CSHJR 12(O&G): Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, development, and production.
00 CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12(O&G) 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the 02 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, development, and 03 production. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 06 Conservation Act (ANILCA)), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further 07 oil and gas exploration, development, and production within the coastal plain of the Arctic 08 National Wildlife Refuge; 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 "1002 study area" is part of the coastal plain located within the North 14 Slope Borough, and many of the residents of the North Slope Borough, who are 15 predominantly Inupiat Eskimo, 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 the state's future energy independence would be enhanced with 06 additional natural gas production from the North Slope of Alaska including what are expected 07 to be significant gas reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the development of 08 those reserves would enhance the economic viability of the proposed Alaska Natural Gas 09 Pipeline; and 10 WHEREAS domestic demand for oil continues to rise while domestic crude 11 production continues to fall, with the result that the United States imports additional oil from 12 foreign sources; and 13 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 14 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 15 creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a positive effect in all 50 states; 16 and 17 WHEREAS Prudhoe Bay production is declining; and 18 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, a transportation facility that is a 19 national asset and that would cost billions of dollars to replace, would have its useful physical 20 life extended for a substantial period if the additional reserves of recoverable oil from the 21 coastal plain were produced; and 22 WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska, such as 23 Alpine, Northstar, and West Sak, may temporarily slow the decline in production, only giant 24 coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasing the production volume of 25 Alaska oil to a significant degree; and 26 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now 27 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national 28 security review; and 29 WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge makes up only eight 30 percent of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves in the 31 refuge's coastal plain would affect an area of only 2,000 to 7,000 acres, which is less than
01 one-half of one percent of the area of the coastal plain; and 02 WHEREAS 8,900,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 03 aside as wilderness; and 04 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations 05 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it is capable of conducting oil and gas activity without 06 adversely affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and 07 WHEREAS the state will strive to ensure the continued health and productivity of the 08 Porcupine Caribou herd and the protection of land, water, and wildlife resources during the 09 exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 10 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry is developing directional drilling technology that 11 will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner by minimizing the development 12 footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and this directional drilling technology 13 may be capable of drilling from outside of the boundaries of the 1002 study area; and 14 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 15 practices in the new field developments at Alpine and Northstar, and those techniques are 16 directly applicable to operating on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental 17 protection beyond traditionally high standards; 18 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United 19 States is urged to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife 20 Refuge to oil and gas exploration, development, and production, and that the Alaska State 21 Legislature is adamantly opposed to further wilderness or other restrictive designation in the 22 area of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and be it 23 FURTHER RESOLVED that that activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 24 environment and the naturally occurring population levels of the Porcupine Caribou herd on 25 which the Gwich'in and other local residents depend, that uses directional drilling and other 26 advances in technology to minimize the development footprint in the 1002 study area, and 27 that uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible; and be it 28 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Congress of the 29 United States to pass legislation opening the 1002 study area for oil and gas development 30 while continuing to work on measures for increasing the development and use of renewable 31 energy technologies; and be it
01 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral 02 reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the 03 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting 04 less than the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from the federal land in Alaska 05 that was promised to the state at statehood. 06 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President 07 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States 08 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Dirk Kempthorne, United States Secretary of 09 the Interior; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 10 Honorable John Boehner, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 11 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, 12 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Energy and 13 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ted Stevens and the 14 Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 15 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and, by electronic 16 transmission, to all other members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives 17 serving in the 110th United States Congress.