00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 13                                                                                         
01 Relating to using oil spill settlement funds to create an endowment for the                                             
02 sciences at the University of Alaska.                                                                                   
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
04  WHEREAS the biological resources of the northern Gulf of Alaska were affected by                                     
05 the Exxon Valdez oil spill; and                                                                                         
06  WHEREAS the Exxon Valdez oil spill disrupted the economic and social lives of                                        
07 many of the local residents in the Prince William Sound area; and                                                       
08  WHEREAS a spill of the magnitude of the Exxon Valdez oil spill not only affects the                                  
09 wildlife and fish habitat, but also has economic, social, and psychological effects in rural                            
10 Alaska where traditional life styles of local populations, including the Native population, may                         
11 be severely disrupted; and                                                                                              
12  WHEREAS baseline scientific data is inadequate to assess positively the damage of                                    
13 the Exxon Valdez oil spill, to manage major spills, and to realistically restore the environment;                       
14 and                                                                                                                     

01  WHEREAS Alaska has more coastline than any other state in the union, making it                                       
02 imperative that Alaska take the lead in using the accumulation of scientific knowledge and                              
03 promoting the advancement of scientific technology now as well as in the future; and                                    
04  WHEREAS, with scientific advancements in the decades ahead, eventual enhancement                                     
05 of many biological resources will be possible; and                                                                      
06  WHEREAS the mission of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council is to efficiently                                  
07 restore the environment injured by the spill to a healthy, productive ecosystem, while taking                           
08 into account the importance of quality of life and the need for viable opportunities to establish                       
09 and sustain a reasonable standard of living; and                                                                        
10  WHEREAS, because the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council is in charge of                                          
11 restoring, rehabilitating, replacing, enhancing, or acquiring equivalent resources and services                         
12 in the oil spill region, the accumulation of scientific knowledge to manage a future oil spill                          
13 must be a high priority in the council's program; and                                                                   
14  WHEREAS, although significant research projects have been supported by the council,                                  
15 many important areas of inquiry remain that can be effectively addressed only over an                                   
16 extended period of time; additionally, there are significant research projects relating to spill                        
17 technology, restoration methods, and ecosystem preservation that need to be pursued and                                 
18 extended for maximum public benefit; and                                                                                
19  WHEREAS the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council restoration plan includes                                         
20 adequate provisions for establishing a sound future-oriented program of research and top-level                          
21 study that would accumulate and spread knowledge of the North to the world; and                                         
22  WHEREAS the University of Alaska has taken a leadership role in many of these                                        
23 areas of study and is strongly committed to working in rural Alaska as well as to attracting                            
24 students from rural Alaska; and                                                                                         
25  WHEREAS the University of Alaska is a statewide system with locations in Valdez,                                     
26 Cordova, Petersburg, Homer, Seward, Kodiak, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Bethel,                                       
27 Dillingham, and many other locations in rural Alaska; and                                                               
28  WHEREAS the University of Alaska is currently conducting research in fisheries and                                   
29 oceanography; and                                                                                                       
30  WHEREAS a general endowment will permit the university to fund specific projects                                     
31 and studies that may only require a limited time to answer and to be flexible to fund new                               

01 studies as new questions or problems arise; and                                                                         
02  WHEREAS endowed academic chairs and research centers would provide the                                               
03 continuing quality scientific investigation, scientific publications, and excellence in training                        
04 that will be needed by the agencies and the industry responsible for resource management and                            
05 development into perpetuity; and                                                                                        
06  WHEREAS the establishment of selected endowed chairs in relevant instructional,                                      
07 research or public service programs would further ensure that the lessons learned from the                              
08 Exxon Valdez tragedy will continue to be explored and discussed in classrooms, laboratories,                            
09 public seminars, and community outreach programs; and                                                                   
10  WHEREAS a high caliber of endowed professors attract the highest quality graduate                                    
11 students and most often have a competitive edge in securing grants and contracts; and                                   
12  WHEREAS concentrating a major center for the advancement of sciences at the                                          
13 University of Alaska is in the best interests of all Alaskans since agency and industry research                        
14 is normally directed to the public; and                                                                                 
15  WHEREAS endowed university research is normally broad in scope, produces peer-                                       
16 reviewed publications, has long-term continuity, and produces an outflow of trained                                     
17 professionals; and                                                                                                      
18  WHEREAS the University of Alaska already has an appropriate foundation for                                           
19 managing endowed chairs, thus eliminating the cost of a new bureaucracy, and has the                                    
20 resources to enhance an endowment in time with additional funds acquired from other                                     
21 agencies and from industry; and                                                                                         
22  WHEREAS an endowment enables the University of Alaska to create a self                                               
23 perpetuating fund to fulfill the long-term goals of the spill settlement funds; and                                     
24  WHEREAS the combination of a general endowment and endowed chairs allows the                                         
25 University of Alaska both flexibility and long-term funding with an irrevocable commitment                              
26 to continue the study of all of the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and any future spills                         
27 that may happen in Alaska waters or any other waters on this earth; and                                                 
28  WHEREAS the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council expends money obtained from                                       
29 settlement of oil spill litigation;                                                                                     
30  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill                                    
31 Trustee Council to establish a $100,000,000 endowment to the University of Alaska for the                               

01 purpose of endowing a substantial number of chairs in the sciences that will fulfill the intent                         
02 of the settlement.                                                                                                      
03  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Tony Knowles, Governor                                      
04 of Alaska; the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council; Mark Hamilton, President of the                                  
05 University of Alaska; Michael J. Burns, President of the Board of Regents of the University                             
06 of Alaska; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.                                     
07 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
08 delegation in Congress.