The Alaska House on Monday passed House Joint Resolution 6 calling on the federal Bureau of Land Management to plug and remediate dozens of well sites in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to protect the land, sea and wildlife.

“Only in Washington D.C. could a leaking, trash covered oil and gas well be considered a national historic site,” Representative Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, said. “In its new Legacy Well report, the BLM is considering national historic site status for 48 wells. All Americans should be outraged by the BLM’s disregard for the arctic environment and demand the wells be cleaned up immediately. If a private company or the State were the ones accountable, you can bet the federal government would be here tomorrow and it would be front page news. We want justice. We want an accelerated clean-up plan, and we want the federal government to clean up its mess.”

Legacy Wells were drilled by the federal government from 1944 to 1981. Since drilling ceased only a handful have been correctly plugged and remediated.

In a report received at the beginning of the month, the BLM had indicated that it plans to designate 48 wells as national historic sites. If the wells receive the designation the BLM wouldn’t have to clean up the sites.

The new resolution includes the following changes and updates:

• Only 17 of the 137 wells have been correctly plugged and cleaned up
• Urges BLM to work in a cooperative manner with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and use the best practices when work is performed on well sites
• Consider handing over responsibility for Legacy Wells to an entity capable of cleaning up the sites more cost effectively within state and federal regulations
• Urges BLM to open new areas of NPR-A to responsible oil and gas leasing

HJR 6 passed the House unanimously and now moves to the Alaska Senate for consideration.

For more information, please call Rep. Millett at 465-3879.