SB 308: "An Act modifying administrative procedures and decisions by state agencies that relate to uses and dispositions of state land, property, and resources, and to the interests within them, and that relate to land, property, and resources, and to the interests within them, that are subject to the coastal management program; and providing for an effective date."
00SENATE BILL NO. 308 01 "An Act modifying administrative procedures and decisions by state agencies that 02 relate to uses and dispositions of state land, property, and resources, and to the 03 interests within them, and that relate to land, property, and resources, and to 04 the interests within them, that are subject to the coastal management program; 05 and providing for an effective date." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 * Section 1. AS 38.05.035(e) is amended to read: 08 (e) Upon a written finding that the interests of the state will be best served, 09 the director may, with the consent of the commissioner, approve contracts for the sale, 10 lease, or other disposal of available land, resources, property, or interests in them, and, 11 in addition to the conditions and limitations imposed by law, may impose additional 12 conditions or limitations in the contracts as the director determines, with the consent 13 of the commissioner, will best serve the interests of the state. A written finding of 14 the director is subject to the following:
01 (1) with the consent of the commissioner and subject to the 02 director's discretion, for a specific proposed disposal of available land, resources, 03 or property, or of an interest in them, the director 04 (A) shall establish the scope of the administrative review on 05 which the director's determination is based, and the scope of the written 06 finding supporting that determination; the scope of the review and finding 07 may address only reasonably foreseeable, nonspeculative, direct effects of 08 the uses proposed to be authorized by the disposal; 09 (B) may limit the scope of an administrative review and 10 finding for a proposed disposal 11 (i) to the applicable law and the facts pertaining to 12 the land, resources, or property, or interest in them, that the 13 director finds are material to the determination and that are known 14 to the director or knowledge of which is made available to the 15 director during the administrative review; and 16 (ii) to issues that, based on the law and facts as 17 described in (i) of this subparagraph and on the nature of the uses 18 sought to be authorized, the director finds are relevant to the 19 determination of whether the proposed disposal will best serve the 20 interests of the state; and 21 (C) may, if the project for which the proposed disposal is 22 sought is a multiphased development, limit the scope of an administrative 23 review and finding for the proposed disposal to the applicable law, facts, 24 and issues identified in (B)(i) and (ii) of this paragraph that pertain solely 25 to a discrete phase of the project when the only uses to be authorized by 26 the proposed disposal are part of that discrete phase, the department's 27 approval is required before the next phase of the disposal may proceed, 28 and the department conditions its approval to ensure that any additional 29 uses or activities proposed for that or any later phase of the disposal will 30 serve the best interests of the state; 31 (2) a [A] written finding for an oil and gas lease sale under
01 AS 38.05.180 is subject to (g) of this section; 02 (3) a [. A] contract for the sale, lease, or other disposal of available 03 land or an interest in land is not legally binding on the state until the commissioner 04 approves the contract but if the appraised value is not greater than $50,000 in the case 05 of the sale of land or an interest in land, or $5,000 in the case of the annual rental of 06 land or interest in land, the director may execute the contract without the approval of 07 the commissioner; 08 (4) before [. BEFORE] a public hearing, if held, or in any case no less 09 than 21 days before the sale, lease, or other disposal of available land, property, 10 resources, or interests in them, the director shall make available to the public a written 11 finding that, in accordance with (1) of this subsection, sets out the material facts and 12 applicable law upon which the determination that the sale, lease, or other disposal will 13 best serve the interests of the state was based; however, a [. A] written finding is not 14 required before the approval of 15 (A) [(1)] a contract for a negotiated sale authorized under 16 AS 38.05.115; 17 (B) [(2)] a lease of land for a shore fishery site under 18 AS 38.05.082; 19 (C) [(3)] a permit or other authorization revocable by the 20 commissioner; 21 (D) [(4)] a mineral claim located under AS 38.05.195; 22 (E) [(5)] a mineral lease issued under AS 38.05.205; 23 (F) [(6)] a production license issued under AS 38.05.207; 24 (G) [(7)] an exempt oil and gas sale under AS 38.05.180(d) of 25 acreage offered in a sale that was held within the previous five years if the sale 26 was subject to a written best interest finding, unless the commissioner 27 determines that new information has become available that justifies a revision 28 of the best interest finding; or 29 (H) [(8)] a lease sale under AS 38.05.180(w) of acreage offered 30 in a sale that was held within the previous five years if the sale was subject to 31 a best interest finding, unless the commissioner determines that new
01 information has become available that justifies a revision of the best interest 02 finding. 03 * Sec. 2. AS 38.05.035(g) is amended to read: 04 (g) When the director prepares a written finding required under (e) of this 05 section for an oil and gas lease sale scheduled under AS 38.05.180, the director shall 06 consider and discuss in the finding 07 (1) facts that are known to the director at the time of preparation of the 08 finding and that are material to the following matters or to the issues that are within 09 the scope of the administrative review that was established by the director under 10 (e)(1) of this section and that were raised during the period allowed for receipt of 11 public comment; 12 (A) property descriptions and locations; 13 (B) the petroleum potential of the sale area, in general terms; 14 (C) fish and wildlife species and their habitats within [IN] the 15 lease sale area; 16 (D) the current and nonspeculative projected uses in the area, 17 including uses and value of fish and wildlife; 18 (E) the governmental powers to regulate oil and gas exploration, 19 development, production, and transportation; 20 (F) the reasonably foreseeable cumulative effects of oil and gas 21 exploration, development, production, and transportation on the sale area, 22 including effects on subsistence uses, fish and wildlife habitat and populations 23 and their uses, and historic and cultural resources; 24 (G) lease stipulations and mitigation measures, including any 25 measures to prevent and mitigate releases of oil and hazardous substances, to 26 be included in the leases, and a discussion of the protections offered by these 27 measures; 28 (H) the method or methods most likely to be used to transport 29 oil or gas from the lease sale area, and the advantages, disadvantages, and 30 relative risks of each; 31 (I) the reasonably foreseeable, nonspeculative fiscal effects of
01 the lease sale and the subsequent activity on the state and affected 02 municipalities and communities, including the explicit and implicit subsidies 03 associated with the lease sale, if any; 04 (J) the reasonably foreseeable, nonspeculative effects of oil and 05 gas exploration, development, production, and transportation on municipalities 06 and communities within or adjacent to the lease sale area; and 07 (K) the bidding method or methods adopted by the 08 commissioner under AS 38.05.180; 09 (2) a summary of agency and public comments received and the 10 department's responses to those comments; and 11 (3) the basis for the director's determination that, on balance, leasing 12 the area would be in the state's best interest. 13 * Sec. 3. AS 46.40 is amended by adding a new section to read: 14 Sec. 46.40.094. CONSISTENCY DETERMINATIONS. (a) When a 15 consistency determination is required for a project, the party responsible for the 16 consistency determination shall conduct the consistency review of the project and make 17 a consistency determination based only on 18 (1) applicable law; 19 (2) the facts pertaining to the project that are 20 (A) known to the party responsible or made a part of the record 21 during the project's consistency review; and 22 (B) material to the project's consistency determination; and 23 (3) the reasonably foreseeable, nonspeculative, direct effects of the 24 project. 25 (b) If a consistency determination is required for a project that is a discrete 26 phase of a multiphased development project, in addition to the requirements of (a) of 27 this section, the party responsible for the consistency determination may, in its 28 discretion, 29 (1) limit the consistency determination for the proposed project to that 30 discrete phase if each later phase of the project requires the party responsible to review 31 and make a consistency determination before that later phase of the project may
01 proceed; and 02 (2) condition the consistency determination for that phase of the project 03 on a requirement that an additional use or activity proposed for that or any later phase 04 of the project be consistent with the Alaska coastal management program. 05 (c) In this section, 06 (1) "party responsible for the consistency determination" or "party 07 responsible" means 08 (A) the office of management and budget, for a consistency 09 determination required to be made under AS 44.19.145(a)(11); and 10 (B) the commissioner of the resource agency that coordinates 11 a consistency review for a proposed project when required by this chapter for 12 which a permit, lease, or authorization is required to be approved or issued 13 only by that resource agency; 14 (2) "resource agency" has the meaning given in AS 44.19.152. 15 * Sec. 4. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).