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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 148 / Thursday, August 5, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
to 80 personnel flights to/from the Alpine Airstrip occur each week.
Within the CRU, the Alpine Airport transports personnel and supplies to and from the CRU drill site that is only connected by an ice road during the winter. There are approximately 700
cargo flights into Alpine each year.
Cargo flight activity varies throughout the year with October through December being the busiest months. Aerial visual surveillance of the Alpine crude pipeline is conducted weekly for sections of the pipeline that are not accessible either by road or during winter months. These aerial surveillance inspections generally occur one to two times each week, and they average between two and four total flight hours each week. CPAI also uses aircraft to conduct environmental studies, including polar den detection surveys in the winter and caribou and bird surveys in the summer. These environmental surveys cover approximately 1,287 linear km 800
linear mi over the CRU each year. In the summer from mid-May to midSeptember, CPAI uses helicopters to transport personnel and equipment within the CRU approximately 2,000
flights and GMTU approximately 650
flights.
There are no offshore or coastal facilities in the CRU. However, there are multiple bridges in the CRU and GMTU
that required pilings which were driven into stream/riverbeds during construction. In-water activities may occur during emergency and oil spill response training exercises. During the ice-covered periods, training exercises may involve using equipment to detect, contain, and recover oil on and under ice. During the open-water season, air boats, shallow-draft jet boats and possibly other vessels may be used in the Nigliq Channel, the Colville River Main Channel, and other channels and tributaries connected to the Colville River. Vessels may occasionally enter the nearshore Beaufort Sea to transit between channels and/or tributaries of the Colville River Delta.
In the 20212026 period, two 4-ha 10-ac multiseason ice pads would be located in the WNS in order to support the Willow Development construction in the NPRA. Possible expansion activities for this period may include small pad expansions or new pads <6.1
ha 15 ac to accommodate additional drilling and development of small pads and gravel roads to accommodate additional facilities and operational needs. Two gravel mine sources in the Ti>miaqsiugvik area have been permitted to supply gravel for the Willow Development. The new gravel
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source would be accessed seasonally by an ice road. Increases in the amount of traffic within WNS are expected from 2023 to 2026. The increase in traffic is due to the transport of freight, equipment, and support crew between the Willow Development, the Oliktok Dock, and the Kuparuk Airport. The planned Willow Development is projected to add several flights to/from the Alpine Airstrip from 2021 to 2026.
It is estimated that the number of annual flights may increase by a range of 49 to 122 flights. There are plans to replace passenger flights connecting Alpine and Kuparuk oilfields in 2021 with direct flights to these oilfields. This change would reduce the number of connector flights between these oilfields from 18
flights to 5 flights each week.
Planned Activities at New Oil and Gas Facilities for 20212026
AOGAs Request includes several new oil and gas facilities being planned for leases obtained by Industry see the section about Lease Sales in which development and exploration activities would occur. The information discussed below was provided by AOGA and is the best available information at the time AOGAs Request was finalized.
Bear Tooth Unit Willow Located 45.1 km 28 mi from Alpine, the Willow Development is currently owned and operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. Willow is found in the Bear Tooth Unit BTU located within the northeastern area of the NPRA.
Discovered in 2016 after the drilling of the Ti>miaq 2 and 6 wells, Willow is estimated to contain 400750 million barrels of oil and has the potential to produce over 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The Willow Project would require the development of several different types of infrastructure, including gravel roads, airstrips, ice roads, and ice pads, that would benefit seismic surveys, drilling, operations, production, piledriving, dredging, and construction.
ConocoPhillips plans to develop the hydrocarbon resources within the BTU
during the 20212026 timeline under this ITR. The proposed development at Willow would consist of five drill sites along with associated infrastructure, including flowlines, a CPF, a personnel camp, an airstrip, a sales oil pipeline, and various roads across the area.
Additionally, Willow would require the development of a new gravel mine site and would use sea lifts for large modules at Oliktok Dock requiring transportation over gravel and ice roads in the winter.
Access to the Willow Development project area to Alpine, Kuparuk, or
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Deadhorse would be available by ground transportation along ice roads.
Additionally, access to the Alpine Unit would occur by gravel road. The Development Plan requires 61.5 km 38.2 mi of gravel road and seven bridges to connect the five drill sites to the Greater Mooses Tooth 2 GMT2.
The Willow Development would also require approximately 59.7 km 37.1 mi or 104 ha 257.2 ac of gravel roads to the Willow Central Processing Facility WCF, the WCF to the Greater Mooses Tooth 2 GMT2, to water sources, and to airstrip access roads. The gravel needed for any gravel-based development would be mined from a newly developed gravel mine site and then placed for the appropriate infrastructure during winter for the first 3 to 4 years of the construction.
Gravel mining and placement would occur almost exclusively in the winter season. Prepacked snow and ice road construction will be developed to access the gravel mine site, the gravel road, and pad locations in December and January yearly from 2021 to 2024, and again in 2026. Ice roads would be available for use by February 1 annually. The Willow plan would require gravel for several facilities, including Bear Tooth 1 BT1, Bear Tooth 2 BT2, Bear Tooth 3 BT3, Bear Tooth 4 BT4, roads, WCF, Willow Operations Center WOC, and the airstrip. Additionally, an all-season gravel road would be present from the GMT2 development and extend southwest towards the Willow Development area. This access road would end at BT3, located west from the WCF, WOC, and the airstrip. More gravel roads are planned to extend to the north, connecting BT1, BT2, and BT4. An infield road at BT3 would provide a water-source access road that would extend to the east to a freshwater reservoir access pad and water intake system developed by ConocoPhillips.
Further east from the planned airstrip, an infield road is planned to extend north to BT1, continue north to BT2, and end at BT4. This road would intersect Judy Iqalliqpik Creek and Fish Uvlutuuq Creek at several points.
Culvert locations would be identified and installed during the first construction season prior to breakup.
Gravel pads would be developed before on-pad facilities are constructed. Gravel conditions and re-compaction would occur later in the year.
The Willow area is expected to have year-round aircraft operations and access from the Alpine Unit, Kuparuk Unit, Deadhorse, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and several other locations. Aircraft would primarily be used for support activities and transporting workers,
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