The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) draft plan for the 300,000-acre northeastern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) is causing concern among conservation groups that say the plan only gives lip service to the problems that prompted a judge to halt a proposed lease sale in September 2006. The judge found the plan did not consider the cumulative impacts of development both on- and off-shore in the NPRA area and did not include impacts to human health.
Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
