Arctic Standards: Recommendations on Oil Spill Prevention, Response, and Safety in the U.S. Arctic Ocean

Oil spilled in Arctic waters would be particularly difficult to remove. Current technology has not been proved to effectively clean up oil when mixed with ice or when trapped under ice. An oil spill would have a profoundly adverse impact on the rich and complex ecosystem found nowhere else in the United States. The Arctic Ocean is home to bowhead, beluga, and gray whales; walruses; polar bears; and other magnificent marine mammals, as well as millions of migratory birds. A healthy ocean is important for these species and integral to the continuation of hunting and fishing traditions practiced by Alaska Native communities for thousands of years.To aid the United States in its efforts to modernize Arctic technology and equipment standards, this report examines the fierce Arctic conditions in which offshore oil and gas operations could take place and then offers a summary of key recommendations for the Interior Department to consider as it develops world-class, Arctic-specific regulatory standards for these activities. Pew's recommendations call for improved technology,equipment, and procedural requirements that match the challenging conditions in the Arctic and for full public participation and transparency throughout the decision-making process. Pew is not opposed to offshore drilling, but a balance must be achieved between responsible energy development and protection of the environment.It is essential that appropriate standards be in place for safety and for oil spill prevention and response in this extreme, remote, and vulnerable ecosystem. This report recommends updating regulations to include Arctic specific requirements and codifying temporary guidance into regulation. The appendixes to this report provide substantially more detail on the report's recommendations, including technical background documentation and additional referenced materials. Please refer to the full set of appendixes for a complete set of recommendations. This report and its appendixes offer guidelines for responsible hydrocarbon development in the U.S. Arctic Ocean

Risk Management in the Arctic Offshore: Wicked Problems Require New Paradigms

Recent project-management literature and high-profile disasters—the financial crisis, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the Fukushima nuclear accident—illustrate the flaws of traditional risk models for complex projects. This research examines how various groups with interests in the Arctic offshore define risks. The findings link the wicked problem framework and the emerging paradigm of Project Management of the Second Order (PM-2). Wicked problems are problems that are unstructured, complex, irregular, interactive, adaptive, and novel. The authors synthesize literature on the topic to offer strategies for navigating wicked problems, provide new variables to deconstruct traditional risk models, and integrate objective and subjective schools of risk analysis

Oceanus.

v. 31, no. 2 (1988

Factors Affecting Water Management on the North Slope of Alaska

The North Slope of Alaska is undergoing sudden development following the recent discovery of large oil and gas reserves in the area. The water resources of the region should be carefully managed both to ensure adequate supplies of usable water at reasonable cost, and to guard against excessive deterioration of water quality. The likely effects on the environment of man's activities are investigated and found to be poorly understood at the present time. Research priorities are suggested to supply rapid answers to questions of immediate importance. The applicability of a regional management concept to the North Slope waters is considered and the concept is recommended as part of a broad land and water planning philosophy which would emphasize regional control over state and federal control. The use of economic incentives rather than standards for the control of water quality is not recommended at the present time.The work upon which this report is based was supported primarily by funds provided by the Sea Grant Program of the University of Alaska under grant No. 1-36109

Impact assessment of road infrastructure: A holistic approach

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Shaping the future of hydraulic fracturing in the Canadian Arctic through environmental guidelines

yesThis paper addresses the regulation of energy resource projects on indigenous lands in the Canadian Arctic and the role of environmental impact assessment in these projects, specifically those involving hydraulic fracturing. Taking an environmental point of view, this paper argues that in the absence of specific territorial legislation applying to shale gas development in Nunavut and the onshore portion of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in Northwest Territories the federal regulator, the National Energy Board, has a key role in promoting transparency, public participation, safety and sustainable use of natural resources. As part of its environmental protection responsibilities, the Board, inter alia, ensures that an environmental impact assessment is conducted before any proposed hydraulic fracturing activities commence on indigenous lands, which in some cases include an extensive public consultation. In 2013 the Board adopted rigorous guidelines for all onshore oil and gas projects involving hydraulic fracturing which address many of the concerns raised over shale gas development, including surface and groundwater contamination; impact on air quality; induced seismicity and reluctance of industry to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Although these guidelines are non-binding on the Board, their adoption means that it will be challenging for the operators to obtain an authorisation from the Board should they fail to conduct an environmental impact assessment. This paper argues that these guidelines exceed the best practices widely adopted by the Canadian shale gas industry. It concludes that because the guidelines address a number of concerns raised by the public they could potentially be used as the minimum standards for hydraulic fracturing operations in other regions outside Arctic Canada

Sustainable Development, Natural Resource Extraction, and the Arctic: The Road Ahead

Sustainable development has emerged as an integral nexus, linking together critically important global issues including environmental stewardship and economic growth. Understanding sustainable development demands a close analysis of evolving definitions, conceptual applications, and areas of convergence and divergence within international, regional, and domestic institutions. The import and impact of hard law and soft law must additionally be explored to understand the application of sustainable development to the Arctic. This Article suggests a three-tier framework to assist the multiplicity of stakeholders with diverse equities to navigate the socio-economic and legal hurdles and potential associated with Arctic development. First, a trend has emerged where soft law is effectively “hardening.” Second, the guiding role of domestic law must not be underestimated. The final tier proposes that multidisciplinary Arctic approaches are integral and yield efficiencies. Taken together, this framework provides guidance for novices and experts alike when considering Arctic sustainable development

Oil spill problems and sustainable response strategies through new technologies

Crude oil and petroleum products are widespread water and soil pollutants resulting from marine and terrestrial spillages. International statistics of oil spill sizes for all incidents indicate that the majority of oil spills are small (less than 7 tonnes). The major accidents that happen in the oil industry contribute only a small fraction of the total oil which enters the environment. However, the nature of accidental releases is that they highly pollute small areas and have the potential to devastate the biota locally. There are several routes by which oil can get back to humans from accidental spills, e.g. through accumulation in fish and shellfish, through consumption of contaminated groundwater. Although advances have been made in the prevention of accidents, this does not apply in all countries, and by the random nature of oil spill events, total prevention is not feasible. Therefore, considerable world-wide effort has gone into strategies for minimising accidental spills and the design of new remedial technologies. This paper summarizes new knowledge as well as research and technology gaps essential for developing appropriate decision-making tools in actual spill scenarios. Since oil exploration is being driven into deeper waters and more remote, fragile environments, the risk of future accidents becomes much higher. The innovative safety and accident prevention approaches summarized in this paper are currently important for a range of stakeholders, including the oil industry, the scientific community and the public. Ultimately an integrated approach to prevention and remediation that accelerates an early warning protocol in the event of a spill would get the most appropriate technology selected and implemented as early as possible-the first few hours after a spill are crucial to the outcome of the remedial effort. A particular focus is made on bioremediation as environmentally harmless, cost-effective and relatively inexpensive technology. Greater penetration into the remedial technologies market depends on the harmonization of environment legislation and the application of modern laboratory techniques, e.g. ecogenomics, to improve the predictability of bioremediation

The international obligations of the Russian Federation relating to offshore oil and gas exploration and production in the Arctic

As a petroleum - producing country with enormous offshore developments the Russian Federation faces and will face a threat of increasing pollution of the marine environment resulting from the offshore activities both in its area in the Arctic and on territories of other States. Therefore it is critical for Russia to participate in development of international and regional legal instruments, to have an effective domestic regime for the offshore industry and to ensure that it has fixed obligations on international level in order to avoid negative consequences. 1.1 Research question On the above mentioned background I pose the following research question: Are the international obligations of the Russian Federation relating to the offshore oil and gas exploration and production in the Arctic able to control this process and avoid negative consequences of these activities and is there a need to develop new treaties and join the existing once

Oil Spill Response Capacity in Nunavut and The Beaufort Sea

WWF-Canada commissioned a series of reports to identify barriers that will prevent northern communities from effectively responding to a shipbased oil spill. Parallel reports for the western Beaufort region and Nunavut outline these barriers. A third report provides a framework for developing realistic oil spill response plans for Nunavut communities. To effectively address the issues of oil spill response capacity in the North, engagement with communities is crucial to developing a framework that works within the Arctic context