NYT: Alaska Weighs Relaxing Rules of Exploration

Alaska Weighs Relaxing Rules of Exploration
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

Published: September 29, 2004


Alaska's governor told oil industry officials last week that he expected to relax the rules for heavy equipment on the state's tundra, opening the central North Slope to exploration convoys three or four weeks earlier than in recent years.

The statement by Gov. Frank H. Murkowski, a Republican, was welcomed by the industry officials, who have complained that rules requiring a foot of frozen ground and six inches of snow to avoid damage to the spongy terrain make exploration nearly impossible. Because of prolonged warming, the travel season for heavy vehicles has been cut in half in 30 years under the state rules.

But environmentalists sharply criticized Mr. Murkowski yesterday, saying he was rushing to judgment before the state's scientific analysis of the situation was completed....

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State scientists last winter began field tests, with money from the Department of Energy, to reassess Alaska's tundra travel rules. They ran bulldozers and other vehicles around plots in darkness and subzero blizzards, then returned this summer to assess damage.

A new method for approving tundra travel is expected to be settled on in mid-November, said Robert Loeffler, the director of the mining, land and water division of the Department of Natural Resources....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/29/national/29slope.html