U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, released the following statement following the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision to approve the application for a permit to drill (APD) for the Greater Moose’s Tooth Unit One (GMT-1) project. The GMT-1 project is the first development wholly located within the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPR-A). The oil resource being developed comes primarily from subsurface estate owned by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporation.

“Approval to drill the GMT-1 project is good news for Alaska and our native Corporations who will benefit from the 7(i) revenues from this project,” Murkowski said. “But this announcement marks yet another example of the tortured path Alaskans have been forced to navigate to develop on federal lands in our state.”

ConocoPhillips initially proposed development of GMT-1 in 2002 in the Alpine Satellite Development Plan (ASDP). Although the ASDP was approved in 2004, the project was put on hold as the 2008 Northeast NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan and subsequent 2012 NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan were developed. ConocoPhillips again applied to BLM for the authorization necessary to develop GMT-1 on July 22, 2013. The Record of Decision for the Greater Moose’s Tooth Unit 1 was issued on February 13, 2015

“The GMT-1 project was initially proposed in 2002 and has been subject to multiple plans and NEPA processes over the years. Each one added compounding mitigation requirements and stipulations that have either complicated or delayed the project,” Murkowski said. “Mitigating impacts to subsistence and local communities is critically important to responsible development, but the protracted process and requirements GMT-1 has been subject to must not be a precedent for development in the NPRA.”

Murkowski included language in her bipartisan energy bill, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 to encourage BLM to coordinate with states on energy development. She also included language in her Interior Appropriations Bill to improve the commercial environment in the NPR-A.

“I will continue to push BLM and Interior to work with Alaskans, who have overseen the production of more than 17 billion barrels of oil from the North Slope, to streamline these processes, encourage production to TAPS and bring predictability to all stakeholders.”