SJR 39: Encouraging the United States Congress to pass S. 2214, a bill opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to responsible exploration, development, and production of its oil and gas resources.
00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 39 01 Encouraging the United States Congress to pass S. 2214, a bill opening the 02 coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to responsible exploration, 03 development, and production of its oil and gas resources. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, in 1973, during the Arab oil embargo, the United States was 36 percent 06 dependent on foreign supplies, while today the United States relies on imports to supply over 07 56 percent of its energy consumption; and 08 WHEREAS, in the last eight years, the nation's demand for petroleum products has 09 grown by 14 percent while domestic production has declined by 17 percent; and 10 WHEREAS, by 2020, the United States expects to be 64 percent dependent on other 11 countries to fuel its industry, transportation, and homes; and 12 WHEREAS United States consumers are paying the price, with home heating oil costs 13 in the Northeastern states surpassing $1.70 a gallon, while gasoline prices have climbed to $2 14 a gallon for mid-range gasoline in California; and
01 WHEREAS some airplane passengers are currently paying a $20 fuel surcharge on 02 tickets; and 03 WHEREAS the nation's growing reliance on foreign oil is strengthening the aggressive 04 pricing policies of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC); and 05 WHEREAS the United States is currently receiving 44 percent of its imported oil from 06 OPEC countries, including 1,400,000 barrels a day from Saudi Arabia and 700,000 barrels a 07 day from Iraq; and 08 WHEREAS Iraq has emerged as the fastest growing source of United States oil 09 imports; and 10 WHEREAS the United States is spending $300,000,000 a day on foreign oil, 11 accounting for one-third of the entire trade deficit; and 12 WHEREAS the United States Secretary of energy recently visited the OPEC countries 13 of Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait and non-OPEC member Mexico to urge increased 14 production, but did not visit Alaska; and 15 WHEREAS replacing sport utility vehicles with cars that use alternative fuels or are 16 more energy-efficient is a goal to be applauded and encouraged, but will happen only in the 17 future; and 18 WHEREAS it will take 10,000 dockings of foreign supertankers carrying 500,000 19 barrels of oil each to provide 65 percent of the nation's oil needs in 2020; and 20 WHEREAS, if the United States is going to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, it 21 must look toward domestic sources, including Alaska's Arctic; and 22 WHEREAS federal legislation has been introduced by Senator Murkowski calling for 23 the opening of the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to 24 environmentally sound exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources; and 25 WHEREAS the coastal plain is America's best possibility for the discovery of another 26 giant, Prudhoe Bay-sized oil and gas discovery in North America; and 27 WHEREAS, in 1998, a three-year study by the United States Geological Survey 28 estimated the recoverable oil potential of the coastal plain to be as high as 16,000,000,000 29 barrels of oil, which could replace Saudi oil imports to the United States for 30 years; and 30 WHEREAS the vast majority of Alaskans, including the Native residents of Kaktovik, 31 the only community located in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supports coastal plain
01 development; and 02 WHEREAS coastal plain development could provide hundreds of thousands of jobs 03 and billions of dollars in government revenue, and could contribute billions of dollars to the 04 nation's economy; 05 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska Legislature supports Alaska's role in providing 06 this nation with a major portion of its domestic oil and encourages the United States Congress 07 to pass S. 2214, a bill opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to 08 responsible exploration, development, and production of its oil and gas resources; and be it 09 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska Legislature opposes any efforts to declare 10 the coastal plain a national monument. 11 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 12 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 13 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, United States Secretary of the Interior; the 14 Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable 15 Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable 16 Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 17 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to all other members of the U.S. Senate 18 and the U.S. House of Representatives serving in the 106th United States Congress.