The Interior Department proposed a management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

The Final Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement authorizes energy development on about half of the 23 million-acre reserve. The rest would remain protected.

“To harness the oil and gas potential of the NPR-A, we need a plan that will help the industry bring energy safely to market from this remote location, while also protecting wildlife and subsistence rights of Alaska Natives,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a press release.

Residents of more than 40 Alaska Native villages rely on two large caribou herds and other animals in the reserve for subsistence.

Get the Story:
Salazar plan puts half of Alaska petroleum reserve off-limits to drilling (The Washington Post 8/14)
Salazar proposes plan for petroleum reserve (AP 8/14)
Salazar slaps Shell for Arctic drilling delays (The Anchorage Daily News 8/14)

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DOI issues consultation policy for Alaska Native corporations (8/10)