HJR 13: Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and production.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 13 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain 02 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, 03 development, and production. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, in sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 06 (ANILCA), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further oil and gas 07 exploration, development, and production within the coastal plain of the Arctic National 08 Wildlife Refuge, Alaska; and 09 WHEREAS the oil industry, the state, and the United States Department of the Interior 10 consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential for discovery of very large oil and gas 11 accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as 10,000,000,000 12 barrels of recoverable oil; and 13 WHEREAS the residents of the North Slope Borough, within which the coastal plain 14 is located, are supportive of development in the "1002 study area"; and
01 WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the refuge 02 and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's future need 03 for imported oil, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and significantly increase the nation's 04 security; and 05 WHEREAS, in 1996, more than one-half of the oil used in the United States has come 06 from foreign sources as domestic crude oil production fell to 6,600,000 barrels a day, its 07 lowest annual level since 1954; and 08 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 09 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 10 creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a positive effect in all 50 states; 11 and 12 WHEREAS Prudhoe Bay production is declining by approximately 10 percent a year; 13 and 14 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now 15 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national 16 security review; and 17 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry and related state employment have been severely 18 affected by reduced oil and gas activity, and the reduction in industry investment and 19 employment has broad implications for the state work force and the entire state economy; and 20 WHEREAS the 1,500,000 acre coastal plain of the refuge comprises only eight percent 21 of the 19,000,000 acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves in the refuge's 22 coastal plain would affect an area of only 5,000 to 7,000 acres, which is one and one-half 23 percent of the area of the coastal plain; and 24 WHEREAS 8,000,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 25 aside as wilderness; and 26 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations 27 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it can safely conduct oil and gas activity without adversely 28 affecting the environment or wildlife populations; 29 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United 30 States is urged to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife 31 Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; and be it
01 FURTHER RESOLVED that that activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 02 environment and uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible. 03 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 04 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and president 05 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Newt 06 Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority 07 Leader of the United States Senate; to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank 08 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 09 the Alaskan delegation in Congress; and to all other members of the United States Senate and 10 the United States House of Representatives serving in the 105th United States Congress.