Enrolled HJR 18: Urging the United States Congress to refrain from passing legislation that designates land in Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness.
00Enrolled HJR 18 01 Urging the United States Congress to refrain from passing legislation that designates land in 02 Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness. 03 _______________ 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is considered the most 06 promising onshore oil and gas prospect in the United States; and 07 WHEREAS the United States Department of the Interior estimates that there may be 08 10,400,000,000 recoverable barrels of oil and significant quantities of natural gas in the Arctic 09 National Wildlife Refuge; and 10 WHEREAS the potentially enormous oil and gas prospects are located in Area 1002 11 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Area 1002 comprises only eight percent of the 12 total area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 13 WHEREAS the United States Congress, in 16 U.S.C. 3121 (sec. 1002, Alaska 14 National Interest Lands Conservation Act), authorized oil and gas exploratory activity within 15 the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reserved the right to enact future 16 laws to allow for entry into and development of oil and gas resources in the Arctic National 17 Wildlife Refuge; and
01 WHEREAS Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was excluded from 02 wilderness designation in 1980 as a result of a compromise in the negotiations that led to the 03 conversion of the Alaska Wildlife Range into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with the 04 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge encompassing an area that is approximately double the size 05 of the Alaska Wildlife Range; and 06 WHEREAS 16 U.S.C. 3101(d) (sec. 101(d), Alaska National Interest Lands 07 Conservation Act) expresses the belief of the United States Congress that the need for future 08 legislation designating new conservation system units, new national conservation areas, or 09 new national recreation areas in Alaska has been obviated by the enactment of the Alaska 10 National Interest Lands Conservation Act; and 11 WHEREAS development of the oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 12 would reduce the dependence of the United States on unstable sources of foreign oil and 13 would make the economy of the United States stronger and more stable; and 14 WHEREAS the economy of the United States would suffer further if the large natural 15 gas resources in Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are not available for 16 transportation in the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline; and 17 WHEREAS clean-burning natural gas delivered by way of the proposed Alaska 18 natural gas pipeline could be used as an environmentally friendly energy source for homes 19 and businesses in the lower 48 states for decades to come; and 20 WHEREAS new technology and environmental practices used by the oil and gas 21 industry provide for efficient production and environmental protection; and 22 WHEREAS 8,900,000 acres of the 19,000,000 acres in the Arctic National Wildlife 23 Refuge are already designated as wilderness areas; and 24 WHEREAS, assuming development of major oil and gas prospects and full leasing, 25 oil and gas operations will have a footprint on only 2,000 acres out of a total of 1,500,000 26 acres in Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, approximately 0.13 percent of the 27 area; 28 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 29 Congress to preserve its right to enact a law providing for the environmentally responsible 30 exploration and development of oil and gas resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 31 by not passing any legislation that designates land in Area 1002 of the Arctic National
01 Wildlife Refuge as wilderness. 02 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 03 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 04 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the 05 Interior; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 06 Honorable John Boehner, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 07 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, 08 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Energy and 09 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 10 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 11 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 111th United 12 States Congress.