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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 148 / Thursday, August 5, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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maternal polar bear den surveys via aircraft.
Hilcorp performs tundra travel work during the winter season December May; based on the tundra opening dates. Activities involving summer tundra travel are not routine, and pipeline inspections can be performed using established roads. During the winter season, off-road vehicles e.g., Tuckers, snow machines, or tracked utility vehicles called Argo centaurs perform maintenance, pipeline inspections, culvert work, pigging, ground surveillance, VSM leveling, reconnaissance routes snow machine trails, spill response exercises, and geotechnical investigations across Endicott.
Tugs and barges are used to transport fuel and cargo between Endicott, West Dock, Milne, and Northstar during the July to September period pending the open-water period. Trips have been as many as over 80 or as few as 3 annually depending on the needs in the Unit, and since 2012, the number of trips between these fields has ranged from 6 to 30.
However, a tug and barge have been historically used once a year to transport workover rigs between West Dock, Endicott, and Northstar. Endicott performs emergency response and oil spill trainings during both the openwater and ice-covered seasons. Smaller vessels i.e., zodiacs, Kiwi Noreens, bayclass boats participate in these exercises; however, future classes may utilize other additional equipment or vessels e.g., the ARKTOS amphibious emergency escape vehicle as needed.
ARKTOS training will not be conducted during the summer.
Kuparuk River Unit ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc., operates facilities in the Kuparuk River Unit.
This Unit is composed of several additional satellite oilfields Tarn, Palm, Tabasco, West Sak, and Meltwater containing 49 producing drill sites.
Collectively, the Greater Kuparuk Area consists of approximately 1,013 ha 2,504 ac made up of 209 km 130 mi of gravel roads, 206 km 128 mi of pipelines, 4 gravel mine sites, and over 73 gravel pads. A maximum of 1,200
personnel can be accommodated at the Kuparuk Operations Center and the Kuparuk Construction Camp. The camps at the Kuparuk Industrial Center are used to accommodate overflow personnel.
Kuparuks facilities are all connected by gravel road and are accessible from the Dalton Highway year-round.
ConocoPhillips utilizes a variety of vehicles on these roads, including light passenger trucks, heavy tractor-trailer
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trucks, heavy equipment, and very large drill rigs. Required equipment and supplies are flown in through Deadhorse and then transported via vehicle into the Kuparuk River Unit.
Traffic has been noted to be substantial, with specific arterial routes between processing facilities and camps experiencing the heaviest use.
Conversely, drill site access routes experience much less traffic with standard visits to drill sites occurring at least twice daily within a 24-hour period. Traffic at drill sites increases during drilling activities, maintenance, or other related projects and tends to subside during normal operations.
The Kuparuk River Unit uses its own private runway Kuparuk Airstrip;
N70.330708, W149.597688. Crew and personnel are transported to Kuparuk on an average of two flights per day. Flights arrive into Kuparuk only on the weekdays Monday through Friday.
Year round, approximately 34 flights per week transport crew and personnel between Kuparuk and Alpine Airport.
ConocoPhillips plans to replace the passenger flights from Alpine to Kuparuk in 2021 with direct flights to both Alpine and Kuparuk from Anchorage. These flights are expected to occur five times weekly and will replace the weekly flights from Alpine to Kuparuk. Cargo is also flown into Kuparuk on personnel flights. The single exception would be for special and specific flights when the Spine road is blocked. Occasionally, a helicopter will be used to transport personnel and equipment within the Kuparuk River Unit. These flights generally occur between mid-May and mid-September and account for an estimated 50
landings annually in Kuparuk. The location and duration of these flights are variable, and helicopters could land at the Kuparuk Airstrip or remote locations on the tundra. However, only 4 of the estimated 50 landings are within 3.2 km 5 mi of the coast.
ConocoPhillips flies surveys of remote sections of the Kuparuk crude pipeline one to two times weekly during summer months as well as during winter months when there is reduced visibility from snow cover. During winter months, maternal den surveys are also performed using aircraft with mounted AIR
cameras. Off-road vehicles such as Rolligons and Tuckers are used for maintenance and inspection of pipelines and power poles that are not located adjacent to the gravel roads.
These vehicles operate near the road 152 m 500 ft and may operate for 24
hours a day during summer months.
During winter months, temporary ice roads and pads are built to move heavy
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equipment to areas that may be inaccessible. Winter tundra travel distances average approximately 1,931
km 1,200 mi with ice roads averaging approximately 17.7 km 11 mi and may occur at any hour of the day. Dredging and screeding occur annually to the extent necessary for safety, continuation of seawater flow, and dock stability at the Kuparuk saltwater treatment plant intake and at Oliktok dock. Dredging occurs within a 1.5-ha 3.7-ac area, and screeding occurs within a 1-ha 2.5-ac area. Operations are conducted during the open-water season May to October annually. Removed material from screeding and dredging is deposited in upland areas above the high tide, such as along the Oliktok causeway and saltwater treatment plant STP pad.
ConocoPhillips removes approximately 0.6 to 1.1 m 2 to 3.5 ft of sediment per year. Dredging activities typically last for 21 days, and screeding activities typically last 12 days annually. Boats are also used to perform routine maintenance as needed on the STP
outfalls and inlets. ConocoPhillips infrequently has marine vessel traffic at the Oliktok Dock.
ConocoPhillips performs emergency response and oil spill trainings during both open-water and ice-covered seasons. Smaller vessels i.e., zodiacs, aluminum work boats, air boats, and bay-class boats typically participate in these exercises. Future classes may utilize other additional equipment or vessels as needed.
The Willow Development Project, which is described in full in Planned Activities at New Oil and Gas Facilities for 20212026, would lead to increased activity through the Kuparuk River Unit.
Prefabricated modules would be transported through the Unit. Module transportation involves an increase in road, aircraft, and vessel traffic resulting in the need for gravel road and gravel pad modifications, ice road and ice pad construction, and sea floor screeding.
During the 2023 summer season, gravel hauling and placement to modify existing roads and pads used in support of the Willow Development would take place. An existing 12-acre gravel pad located 13.2 km 2 mi south of the Oliktok Dock would require the addition of 33,411 cubic m 43,700
cubic yd of gravel, increasing pad thickness to support the weight of the modules during staging. However, this addition of gravel would not impact the current footprint of the pad.
Additionally, ConocoPhillips plans to widen six road curves and add four 0.2ha 0.5-ac pullouts between the Oliktok Dock and Drill Site 2P as well as increase the thickness of the 3.2-km 2-

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