Arctic prospecting season will be able to start sooner

Snow is more important than ice in protecting the delicate tundra from disturbances, a finding that holds promise for a longer oil-exploration season in Alaska's rapidly warming Arctic, state officials say.

The Department of Natural Resources officials, who released the conclusions of a study they conducted into the impact of heavy equipment on the North Slope tundra, said the finding supported a policy change that would help open up the region to exploration earlier in the winter.

"The results are we're going to be able to start every exploration season sooner now than we would have under the old rules, with absolutely no impact to the environment," department commissioner Tom Irwin said.

The study, funded by the Department of Energy, was prompted by a warming trend that has drastically shortened the time available for exploration, from more than 200 days a year in the 1970s to about half that now.

"As you all know, since the 70s our seasons have been getting warmer and warmer and our access into exploration, of course, is becoming shorter and shorter. And that's expensive," Irwin said.

The state has long used a tundra-protection standard that requires 15cm of snow and 30cm of hard-frozen ground underneath it before any vehicles or equipment may be moved. Exploration is not conducted in the summer, when the top layer of the permafrost turns soggy and spongy.

Bob Loeffler, director of the department's mining, land and water division, said the discovery about the relative importance of snow-cover boded well for exploration because snow usually preceded frost on the North Slope.

"We've typically had the snow earlier and waited for the hardness," he said.

Technically, the department will still require oil explorers to wait until there is at least 15cm of snow on the surface and 30cm of frost below it before equipment may be driven over the tundra.

But now the definition of "frost" will vary, depending on how easily the ground is penetrated by a testing device.

The new standard comes into effect this winter. If it had been used last winter, the tundra would have opened to travel three to six weeks earlier than it did. The season opened between late December and late January.

One critic said the tundra-travel study had been manipulated to support the Republican governor's pro-development agenda.

Kelly Scanlon Hill, Arctic co-ordinator for the Northern Alaska Environmental Centre, said the conclusions were premature because the study was too short in duration and lacked peer review.

- REUTERS