In January 2001, UNOCAL filed a right-of-way application with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to expand oil and gas development into 52,000 acres of roadless area in prime brown bear, salmon, lynx and trumpeter swan habitat within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.  Since 1957, oil and gas industry activities have taken a considerable toll on refuge resources.  In a contaminants study by the FWS in 2000, researchers found numerous examples of spills, including one on January 6, 2000 when 130,000 gallons of crude oozed from a cracked pipeline near the Swanson River.  FWS biologists have collected preliminary data showing high rates of frog deformities in ponds surrounding oil and gas facilities.

Keeper has submitted comments on UNOCAL's proposed expansion into roadless habitat; organized a coalition of local, state and national groups and citizens, and in the summer of 2001, we organized the first ever tour by conservationists, of the aging facilities in the Swanson River Field.  With the heightened pressure brought onto this project, the timeline for permit approvals has been pushed back, and Keeper will continue to collect the scientific and legal information it needs to restrict new development in prime refuge habitat.

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Last modified 25 October 2005