Western Arctic Coal Project

The Northern Alaska coal province contains the largest coal resource in the United States, and ranks among the top coal-bearing formations in the world, with reserves estimated at 5 billion tons of coal underlying 30,000 square miles in northwestern Alaska. These reserves are thought to represent 40% of total bituminous coal reserves remaining in the United States and about one-ninth of the world’s reserves.

 

In July 2006, BHP Billiton Energy Coal signed an exploration agreement with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) to conduct a five-year coal exploration program on corporation lands in northwestern Alaska. The exploration area is located in bituminous coal beds west of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA), approximately 35 miles south of the Inupiat community of Point Lay, which is situated on the coast of the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait. 

 

While bituminous and sub-bituminous coal showings occur across a large section of the Western Arctic Slope, the current project is restricted to the bituminous showing on ASRC lands (see map, right), where the corporation holds both the surface and sub-surface rights. As warming temperatures open sea lanes from Western Alaska to Asian markets, this project poses serious threats to long term efforts to address the climate change, mercury, and habitat destruction concerns associated with coal development.

 

Status:             Billiton is now in year 2 of a 5 year exploration project.  See www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/ourBusinesses/energyCoal/westernArcticCoalProject.jsp

Applicant:       BHP Billiton, Artic Slope Regional Corporation.  See http://www.asrc.com/lands/lands.asp?page=coal