Washington, DC — The Trump administration has just initiated an environmental review for renewing the right-of-way for the massive Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) for another 30 years, allowing public comment for only 15 days. This short period indicates that the climate and other impacts from continued TAPS operation will not be seriously considered, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Opened for operation 49 years ago, the pipeline transports oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Port Valdez. Congress authorized the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to grant the first 30-year right-of-way for the pipeline system in 1974, with another 30-year right-of-way granted in 2004 and set to expire in 2034. However, the Trump administration is seeking an early, quick renewal to preclude long overdue consideration of mounting economic and ecological concerns.

The pipeline was originally projected to have a life expectancy of 30 years. The most recent environmental analysis, now over two decades old, does not include any examination of the climate harms of the extraction and burning of oil moving through the pipeline, nor does it consider the thawing permafrost on which much of the system is located, creating a growing risk of catastrophic oil spills in inaccessible Alaskan terrain.

In response to a 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from PEER, the BLM was unable to identify a single planning document outlining potential steps to mitigate the climate-related impacts of TAPS over its projected lifetime. Nor was the agency “aware of any assessments concerning climate change” relating to increased maintenance costs or threats of spills or other breakdowns. Furthermore, BLM “has not discussed or estimated the climate impact of TAPS” either internally or “with the owner companies.”

That same year, six groups, including PEER, submitted a legal petition asking the Secretary of the Interior for a comprehensive new analysis of climate damage and other risks from the continued long-term operation of TAPS. The groups also urged that the length of any renewal period be limited to ten years.

“Failure to examine these issues is the height of irresponsibility,” stated Rick Steiner, an ecologist, former University of Alaska Fairbanks professor, and Chair of PEER’s Board of Directors, noting that the public comment period on the 30-year extension is slated to close on September 10^th. “America’s energy future is not served by burying our heads in the tundra.”

Among the myriad of issues BLM appears determined to overlook are the legal requirements that the lessees remove pipeline infrastructure and restore Alaskan lands at the end of the pipeline’s useful life. There has been no apparent planning for how or when to decommission TAPS.

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See the BLM announcement

Look at unanswered petition for full environmental review

Revisit PEER’s 2024 FOIA

PEER protects public employees who protect our environment, natural resources, and public health. We support current and former environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values across federal, state, local, and tribal governments.