HJR 7: 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.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the 02 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and 03 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 10 Interior consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential for discovery of very large oil 11 and gas accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as 12 10,000,000,000 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 15 WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the refuge
01 and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's future need 02 for imported oil, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and significantly increase the nation's 03 security; and 04 WHEREAS domestic demand for oil continues to rise while domestic crude 05 production continues to fall with the result that the United States imports additional oil from 06 foreign sources; and 07 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 08 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 09 creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a positive effect in all 50 states; 10 and 11 WHEREAS Prudhoe Bay production is declining by approximately 10 percent a year; 12 and 13 WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska, such as 14 Alpine, Badami, and West Sak, may slow or temporarily stop the decline in production, only 15 giant coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasing the production volume 16 of Alaska oil to a significant degree; and 17 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now 18 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national 19 security review; and 20 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry and related state employment have been severely 21 affected by reduced oil and gas activity, and the reduction in industry investment and 22 employment has broad implications for the state's work force and the entire state economy; 23 and 24 WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge makes up only eight 25 percent of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves in the 26 refuge's coastal plain would affect an area of only 2,000 to 7,000 acres, which is less than 27 one-half of one percent of the area of the coastal plain; and 28 WHEREAS 8,000,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 29 aside as wilderness; and 30 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations 31 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it can safely conduct oil and gas activity without adversely
01 affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and 02 WHEREAS the state will ensure the continued health and productivity of the 03 Porcupine Caribou herd and the protection of land, water, and wildlife resources during the 04 exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 05 Alaska; and 06 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 07 practices in the new field developments at Alpine and Northstar, and those techniques are 08 directly applicable to operating on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental 09 protection beyond traditionally high standards; 10 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United 11 States is urged to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife 12 Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and production, and that the Alaska 13 State Legislature is adamantly opposed to further wilderness or other restrictive designation in 14 the area of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska; and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that that activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 16 environment and uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible. 17 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President- 18 elect of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President-elect of the 19 United States and president-elect of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Gale Norton, Secretary of 20 the Interior-designee; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of 21 Representatives; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; to the 22 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the 23 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; 24 and to all other members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives serving in 25 the 107th United States Congress.