Energy

Shell and North Slope Borough join forces for Arctic research (Alaska Dispatch via Permafrost News)

Patti Epler | Oct 28, 2010

Shell and the North Slope Borough have agreed to work together on scientific research offshore in the Arctic in an effort aimed at ending political and regulatory fights over exploration and development.

North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta and Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby announced the five-year "collaborative science agreement" at a press conference Thursday.

Shell will pay for the research, and the borough will manage the program. It will be guided by a 14-member steering committee that includes one representative from each of six coastal communities, two state agency people, two executives from Shell, and four scientists picked by the borough from a list put together by Shell.

Itta and Slaiby described a broad research program aimed at collecting baseline data on a variety of issues and areas that are vital to the coastal communities along the Beaufort and Chukchi seas where Shell owns leases. Those issues include industry impacts on bowhead whale migration, air quality, noise and vessel traffic.

"There's no question this is an unprecedented agreement," Itta said, adding that it's been in the works for more than a year.

"God knows there are going to be challenges ahead if there's going to be a long-term industry presence in the Arctic waters," Itta said.

"There's never enough science," he added.

The research program is aimed at helping balance the local residents' subsistence lifestyle with the needed economic boost that the oil industry provides, Slaiby said.

Moving ahead based on science is best for both the residents and the industry, he said.
"This does let the communities have a much stronger voice in going where they want to go," he said.

Shell has applied for a federal permit to do exploratory work this coming summer on leases it owns in the Beaufort Sea, about 15 miles offshore. Slaiby said Thursday the company has agreed to honor the "blackout" period the borough wants during the annual subsistence hunt, from Aug. 25 until the hunt is finished.

Itta said the borough is still reviewing the permit application but that it's much more acceptable than what he company had proposed several years ago, before exploration plans were put on hold by legal challenges and a slowed-down review process of most drilling permits following BP's devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill earlier this year.

"We have listened," Slaiby said, adding: "We want to be an open book about this and let people see what goes on and get everybody on the same side of the table."

Contact Patti Epler at patti(at)alaskadispatch.com .