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Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope (2003)

Chapter: Appendix K: Biosketches of the Committee's Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix K: Biosketches of the Committee's Members." National Research Council. 2003. Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10639.
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Page 246
Suggested Citation:"Appendix K: Biosketches of the Committee's Members." National Research Council. 2003. Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10639.
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Page 247
Suggested Citation:"Appendix K: Biosketches of the Committee's Members." National Research Council. 2003. Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10639.
×
Page 248
Suggested Citation:"Appendix K: Biosketches of the Committee's Members." National Research Council. 2003. Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10639.
×
Page 249
Suggested Citation:"Appendix K: Biosketches of the Committee's Members." National Research Council. 2003. Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10639.
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Page 250

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Appendix K Biosketches of the Committee's Members COMMITTEE ON CUMULATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF OIL AND GAS ACTIVITIES ON ALASKA'S NORTH SLOPE GORDON ORIANS (Chair) is Professor Emeritus of Zool- ogy at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been a member of the faculty of the Uni- versity of Washington since 1960 and served as Director of its Institute of Environmental Studies from 1976 to 1986. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989. His research interests include the evolution of vertebrate so- cial systems, territoriality, habitat selection, and environmen- tal quality. He is a past president of the Ecological Society of America, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. He has served as chair of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology since 1997, as a member of the NRC's Report Review Committee, and as chair or member of many other NRC committees and . . commlsslons. THOMAS F. ALBERT has recently retired from duties as Senior Scientist in the Department of Wildlife Manage- ment, North Slope Borough, Barrow, AK. He now serves as Senior Scientist with Wag-Hill Arctic Science, LLC. He received a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University, V.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and Ph.D. in biology from Georgetown University. He is a Fellow of the Explorers Club (New York) and the Arctic Institute of North America and is an honorary member of the Barrow Whaling Captains Association. His major areas of interest are arctic wildlife, environmental biology, and veterinary medicine. He has experience regarding the importance of bowhead whales to the Eskimo people of northern Alaska and the impacts of oil and gas industry activities on whale behavior and habitat. 246 GARDNER BROWN is a Professor of Economics, special- izing in natural resource economics, non-market valuation, and applied microeconomic theory, at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received his Ph.D. from the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley (1964~. Dr. Brown serves on the editorial board of Environment and Development Eco- nomics and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. RAYMOND CAMERON earned a Ph.D. in Zoophysiology from the University of Alaska (1972~. He served as Wildlife Biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for twenty years (1974-94) and is currently Affiliate Professor of Wildlife Biology at the Institute of Arctic Biology, Uni- versity of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Cameron has published ex- tensively on the behavioral, nutritional, and reproductive consequences of petroleum development on caribou. PATRICIA A. L. COCHRAN is the Executive Director of the Alaskan Native Science Commission. She is an Inupiat Eskimo born and raised in Nome, Alaska. Previously she served as administrator of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage; Ex- ecutive Director of the Alaska Community Development Corporation; Local Government Program Director with the University of Alaska Fairbanks; and Director of Employ- ment and Training for the North Pacific Rim Native Corpo- ration. Ms. Cochran served on the NRC Committee on Man- agement of Wolf and Bear Populations in Alaska. S. CRAIG GERLACH is an Associate Professor of Anthro- pology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University (1989~. His areas of expertise include archaeology of pastoralists, arctic hunter-gatherers, zooarchaeology, and quaternary paleoecol- ogy; arctic oil and gas activities; Native American archaeol- ogy and subsistence studies; historic archaeology and an-

APPENDIX K thropology of reindeer herding in Northwest Alaska; analy- sis of both archaeological and historical resources, as well as subsistence studies on the North Slope and along the TAPS route. He has twenty years of experience involving academic researchers, Alaska Native communities, the oil and gas industry, and mining companies in the fields of archaeology and cultural anthropology. ROBERT B. GRAMLING is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Socioeconomic Research at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette. He earned a B.S. in Social Welfare (1965), M.S. in Social Science (1967), and Ph.D. in Sociology (1975) from the Florida State Univer- sity. His areas of interest include environmental sociology- natural resource development, social impact assessment, and risk assessment. Dr. Gramling is the Principal Investigator for the Louisiana Applied Oil Spill Research and Development Program's study on the "Production and Analysis of an Oil Spill Database for Louisiana" (1999-2001~. He is currently the Associate Editor for Society and Natural Resources and serves on the Standing Scientific Committee, Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council (1994-present) and National Marine Fisheries Service/Northwest Power Planning Council, Independent Scientific Advisory Board (1999-present). For- merly he served on the Study of the Economic, Social, and Psychological Impacts of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1990- 1991~; NRC Committee to Evaluate Information Adequacy for the Presidential Task Force on Outer Continental Shelf leasing in Florida and California (1989-1990~; and NRC Com- mittee to Review the Department of the Interior, Outer Conti- nental Shelf Environmental Studies Program: Socioeconomic Panel (1988-1991~. Dr. Gramling has published several books on off-shore oil development including: Oil on the Edge: Off- shore Development, Conflict, Gridlock (1996) and Oil in Troubled Waters: Perceptions, Politics, and the Battle Over Onshore Drilling (1994~. GEORGE GRYC is a geologist, recently retired from the U.S. Geological Survey. He received his M.S. from the Uni- versity of Minnesota (1941~. He has conducted field studies in northern Alaska in support of the U.S. Navy's war-time program to explore Naval Petroleum Reserve. From 1950 to 1960, he was Chief of the USGS, Navy Oil Unit. From 1960 to 1963, he was Staff Geologist to the Chief Geologist, USGS, in the Office of Regional Geology that included geo- logic studies in Alaska. From 1963 to 1976, Dr. Gryc was Chief of the Alaskan Branch, Geologic Division, in the USGS Regional Center in Menlo Park, California, which was the main operational unit for all USGS mineral, energy and geologic studies in Alaska. In 1976 he was appointed Re- gional Geologist for the Western Region. From 1976 to 1985, he was head of the new USGS unit, "Office of National Pe- troleum Reserve, Alaska," ONPRA, in the USGS Director's Office. As Chief ONPRA, he was in charge of all geological, geophysical, and drilling activities in NPRA. From 1982 to 247 1995, he was the Director's Representative for the Western Region. Mr. Gryc retired from full-time service in January 1995, but continues USGS activities as a volunteer, first as a Pecora Fellow and now as a Scientist Emeritus. He has served on several NRC committees on permafrost. DAVID M. HITE is a consulting petroleum geologist. He earned his B.S. degree from Oregon State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Hite had 24 years experience with Atlantic Richfield Company as a research geologist, explo- ration geologist, and as manager of exploration and techni- cal units of the companies Alaska subsidiary. He has worked most recently as geological consultant for a variety of com- panies and Alaska Native corporations. He has experience in prospect, play and basin analysis in frontier areas (Alaska, Arctic Canada, and the OCS) and has been involved in nu- merous research, exploration, and development activities including basin evaluation, development of depositional models for sandstone reservoirs, homogeneity/heterogene- ity studies of reservoir horizons, surface geological field pro- grams, and evaluation of prospective areas for leasing. Much of his recent work has been focused on the geological field investigations of the North Slope. He is a former member of the Polar Research Board of the NRC and of the Science Advisory Committee of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's Advisory Council. MAHLON C. KENNICUTT, II is Director of the Geochemi- cal and Environmental Research Group in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University and a member of the graduate college faculty at the College of Geosciences & Maritime Studies. He received his Ph.D. in oceanography from Texas A&M University (1980~. His research interests are in marine chemistry, organic geochemistry, the chemis- try of contaminants in the environment, the design and imple- mentation of environmental monitoring programs, the fate and effect of xenobiotic chemicals in the environment, and the development of integrated indicators of ecosystem health. Dr. Kennicutt has significant Antarctic experience, and has participated in 35 ocean research cruises over the past 20 years. He assisted in organizing and writing the work- shop report, "Monitoring of Environmental Impacts from Science and Operations in Antarctica," July 1996. Dr. Kennicutt is one of the two U.S. delegates to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). He serves on the SCAR Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation and SCAR Group of Specialists on Subglacial Lakes, where he has been key in developing the international science plan for exploration of subglacial lakes. He is a member of the NRC's Polar Research Board. ARTHUR H. LACHENBRUCH is a Geophysicist Emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey. He received his B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University (1950), and M.A. (1954) and

248 Ph.D. (1958) in geophysics from Harvard University. He is interested in problems of temperature and stress in the solid earth on a variety of scales ranging from ice-wedge poly- gons in permafrost to continental tectonics. In 1963, he re- ceived the Geological Society of America's Kirk Bryan Award for Geomorphology, and in 1989 the American Geo- physical Union Walter H. Bucher Medal for contributions to knowledge of the Earth's crust. Dr. Lachenbruch is also in- terested in applications to environmental issues such as de- sign of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, implications of borehole temperatures for climate change, and issues of sustainability. He has conducted many years of field studies on the North Slope and elsewhere in Alaska, and has served on the Polar Research Board and NRC committees and on science advi- sory panels for many groups including the Arctic Institute of NA, Los Alamo s National Laboratories, U.S. Geological Survey, AEC, University of Alaska, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975. LLOYD F. LOWRY is an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Alaska School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Previously he was the Statewide Program Coordinator of the Marine Mammal Division of Alaska's Department of Fish and Game. Mr. Lowry received a B.S. in biology from Southeast- ern Massachusetts University (1971) and M.S. in marine sci- ences from the University of California, Santa Cruz (1975~. He has extensive experience analyzing human impacts on marine mammals and their habitats in the Beaufort Sea. Mr. Lowry is Chairman of the Marine Mammal Commission's Committee of Scientific Advisors. He has published exten- sively on seals and other marine mammals and has served on the NRC Committee on the Bering Sea Ecosystem. LAWRENCE L. MOULTON is the owner of and Senior Fisheries Biologist at MJM Research. He earned his B.S. (1969), M.S. (1970), and Ph.D. (1977) in Fisheries Biology at the University of Washington. His areas of expertise in- clude fishery biology, aquatic biology, and ichthyology. Dr. Moulton has over 25 years experience in North Pacific and Alaskan fisheries investigations. He has managed many stud- ies on freshwater, anadromous, and marine fisheries and the effects of harvest or habitat alteration on aquatic popula- tions. These studies have ranged from large, multidis- ciplinary field and analytical studies to specialized mitiga- tion and risk analyses. He has also served as an expert witness in arbitration and litigation cases and has been an invited speaker at a variety of symposia and workshops on anadromous, marine, and estuarine fishes. EVELYN (CHRIS) PIELOU is a retired professor of ecology. She earned a B.S. (1951), Ph.D. (1962) and D.Sc. (1975) from the University of London. Dr. Chris Pielou was a Research Scientist for the Canadian Dept. of Forestry (1963-64~; Re- APPENDIX K search Scientist at the Dept. of Agriculture (1964-67~; Profes- sor of Biology at the Queen's University, Kingston (1968- 71); Killam Research Professor at Dalhousie University, Halifax (1971-74~; Professor of Biology, Dalhousie Univer- sity (1974-81~; and Oil Sands Environmental Research Pro- fessor at the University of Lethbridge (1981-86~. Dr. Pielou is the author of numerous books including: Introduction to Math- ematical Ecology (1969~; Population and Community Ecology (1974~; Ecological Diversity (1975~; Mathematical Ecology (1977~; Biogeography (1979~; Interpretation of Ecological Data (1984~; The World of Northern Evergreens (1988~; After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America (1991~; A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic (1994~; Fresh Wa- ter (2000~; and The Energy of Nature (2001~. Other writings include over 60 papers, articles and scientific publications. Dr. Pielou's work has been recognized by several awards in- cluding: Fellow, Royal Society of Arts; recipient, George Lawson medal of Canadian Botanical Association (1984~; Eminent Ecologist Award of Ecological Society of America (1986~; Distinguished Statistical Ecologist Award of the In- ternational Congress of Ecology (1990~; Honorary LL.D. from Dalhousie University (1993~; Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Honorary Life Member of the British Ecological Society; and Honorary Sc.D. from the University of British Columbia (2001~. JAMES S. SEDINGER is a Professor in the Department of Environmental and Resource Sciences at the University of Nevada Reno. He is the former Interim Director of the Insti- tute of Arctic Biology and Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Sedinger received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis (1983~. He is an ornithologist who has worked and published for years on black brant throughout Alaska. His professional interests are in the study of life-histories, population biol- ogy, and nutritional ecology of avian species, particularly waterfowl. Before becoming a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a research wildlife biologist. He is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America. K. JUNE LINDSTEDT-SIVA is a Senior Consultant at ENSR Consulting and Engineering (1996-present). She earnedherA.B. (1963),M.S.Biology(1967),Ph.D. (1971), in Biology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her areas of expertise include oil spills fate and effects; response technology; response planning; cleanup methods; dispersant fate and effects; dispersant use plan- ning; dispersant application technology; spill management/ decision making, endangered species/biodiversity, sustain- able development, biomonitoring, and arctic, temperate, and tropical marine and terrestrial environmental planning. Formerly, she was the Manager of Environmental Protec-

APPENDIX K lion, ARCO, Los Angeles (1986-96) and worked for At- lantic Richfield, Los Angeles as Manager of Environmen- tal Sciences (1981-86), Senior Science Advisor (1977-81) and Science Advisor (1973-771. She was a member of the NRC Polar Research Board (1993-1996) and served on the NRC Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Panel (1992-19941. She is a member of the Advisory Council, National Insti- tutes for the environment (1992-1995) and EPA's Panel on Evaluation of Bioremediation as an Oil Spill Response Method (1991-19921. She also served on the National Sci- ence Board (1984-1990) and several NSB committees, in- cluding the Committee on NSF Role in Polar Regions. She participated in API sponsored research on the fate and ef- fects of oil spills, effects and effectiveness of spill response technologies, and spill response planning, chairing several task forces. Additionally, she was chairman of the ASTM Task force on Dispersant Use Guidelines for the Treatment of Oil Spills (1980-19861. LISA S PEER is a Senior Policy Analyst and co-director of the Oceans Program at the Natural Resources Defense 249 Council. She earned her M.S. in Forest Science at Yale University. Her work has focused on marine fisheries and on oil and gas development on the U.S. continental shelf and the Alaskan North Slope. She served on the NRC Com- mittee on Marine Environmental Monitoring and is a mem- ber of the NRC Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. DONALD (SKIP) WALKER is a Professor at the Univer- sity of Alaska Fairbanks. He earned his Ph.D. in Environ- mental Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder (19811. Dr. Walker is a scientific expert on the cumulative impacts of oil-field disturbance on Alaska North Slope land- scapes and long-term recovery of vegetative communities in these communities. His research interests include tundra ecology, vegetation mapping methods, landscape ecology, quantitative ecology methods, vegetation of northern Alaska, snow-ecosystem interactions, hierarchical geographic in- formation systems, and disturbance and recovery of arctic ecosystems.

250 Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope _ ., Many laws and regulations affect oil and gas exploration, development, production, and transportation, and many federal, state, and local government offices are involved (see Appendix I). Regulatory oversight can be critical in reducing the accumulation of undesirable effects. The committee's predictions of future effects and their accumulation assume that regulatory oversight will continue at least to the extent of the recent past. All of the effects identified by the committee accumulated as the result of the actual spread of industrial activity on the North Slope or as responses to the news that such activity was likely to occur. Since the 1960s, industrial activity on the North Slope has grown from a single operational oil field at Prudhoe Bay to an industrial complex that stretches from the Alpine field near the mouth of the Colville River on the west to the Badami oil field, about 39 km (23 mi) from the borders of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the east. In 200 l, oil development on the North Slope consisted! of 19 proclucing fields connected to the rest of Alaska by a highway and a pipeline that cross the state. The network consists of 1 1 5 gravel drill sites, 20 pads with processing facilities, ~ ~ 5 pads with other support facilities, 91 exploration sites, ~ 3 off-shore exploration islands, 4 off-shore production islands, 16 airstrips, 4 exploration airstrips, 1,395 culverts, 960 km (596 mi) of roads and permanent trails, 450 mi (725 km) of pipeline corndors, and 219 mi (353 km) of transmission lines. Gravel roads and pads cover more than 3,500 ha (8,800 acres), not including the Trans Alaska Pipeline and the Dalton Highway, ant! gravel mines have affecter! nearly 2,600 ha (6,400 acres). Ubiquitous permafrost requires that this infrastructure not thaw its own foundations, imposing an architecture with environmental consequences of it own. Massive gravel fills under roads and other work surfaces are required to raise them I.S m (6 ft) above the tundra. Heated buildings and pipeline networks must be elevated on pilings, and the closely spaced oil wells are extensively refiigerated. This network has grown incrementally as new fields have been explored and brought into production (Chapter 4~. For a variety of reasons, nearly all roads, pads, pipelines, and other infrastructure whether in current use or not are still in place and are likely to remain into the future. Their effects are manifest not only at the physical footprint itself but also at distances that vary according to the environmental component affected. Effects on hydrology, vegetation, and animal populations occur at distances up to several kilometers, and cumulative effects on wildland values- especially visual ones—extend much farther, as can the effects on marine mammals of sound caused by some offshore activities. All effects attributable to the structures and the activities associated with them accumulate, and many will persist as long as the structures remain, even if industrial activity ceases. SOCIAL CHANGES IN NORTH SLOPE COMMUNITIES Without the discovery and development of North Slope petroleum, the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and hence the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, either would not exist or would} bear little resemblance to their current form. Petroleum development has resulted in major, significant, and probably irrervisible changes to the way of life on the North Slope (Chapter 9~. The primary vehicle of change is revenue that has flowed into communities Tom property taxes levied by the North Slope Borough on the petroleum inclustry's infrastructure. Many North Slope residents view many of these changes positively. However, social and cultural changes of this magnitude inevitably have been ~1

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This book identifies accumulated environmental, social and economic effects of oil and gas leasing, exploration, and production on Alaska's North Slope. Economic benefits to the region have been accompanied by effects of the roads, infrastructure and activies of oil and gas production on the terrain, plants, animals and peoples of the North Slope. While attempts by the oil industry and regulatory agencies have reduced many of the environmental effects, they have not been eliminated. The book makes recommendations for further environmental research related to environmental effects.

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