Enrolled HJR 9: 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; relating to oil and gas exploration, development, production, and royalties; and relating to renewable and alternative energy technologies.
00Enrolled HJR 9 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic 02 National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; relating to 03 oil and gas exploration, development, production, and royalties; and relating to renewable and 04 alternative energy technologies. 05 _______________ 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 08 Conservation Act (ANILCA)), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further 09 oil and gas exploration, development, and production within the coastal plain of the Arctic 10 National Wildlife Refuge; and 11 WHEREAS the oil industry, the state, and the United States Department of the 12 Interior consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential for discovery of very large oil 13 and gas accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as 14 10,000,000,000 barrels of recoverable oil; and 15 WHEREAS the "1002 study area" is part of the coastal plain located within the North 16 Slope Borough, and many of the residents of the North Slope Borough, who are
01 predominantly Inupiat Eskimo, are supportive of development in the "1002 study area"; and 02 WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the refuge 03 and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's future need 04 for imported oil, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and significantly increase the nation's 05 security; and 06 WHEREAS the state's and the nation's future energy independence would be 07 enhanced with additional natural gas production from the North Slope of Alaska including 08 what are expected to be significant gas reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and 09 the development of those reserves would enhance the economic viability of the proposed 10 Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline; and 11 WHEREAS domestic demand for oil continues to rise while domestic crude 12 production continues to fall, with the result that the United States imports additional oil from 13 foreign sources; and 14 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 15 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 16 creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a positive effect in all 50 states; 17 and 18 WHEREAS North Slope production is declining; and 19 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, a transportation facility that is a 20 national asset and that would cost billions of dollars to replace, would have its useful physical 21 life extended for a substantial period if the additional reserves of recoverable oil from the 22 coastal plain were produced; and 23 WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska, such as 24 Alpine, Northstar, and West Sak, may temporarily slow the decline in production, only giant 25 coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasing the production volume of 26 Alaska oil to a significant degree; and 27 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now 28 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national 29 security review; and 30 WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge makes up only eight 31 percent of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves in the
01 refuge's coastal plain would affect an area of only 2,000 to 7,000 acres, which is less than 02 one-half of one percent of the area of the coastal plain; and 03 WHEREAS 8,900,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 04 aside as wilderness; and 05 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations 06 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it is capable of conducting oil and gas activity without 07 adversely affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and 08 WHEREAS the state will strive to ensure the continued health and productivity of the 09 Porcupine Caribou herd and the protection of land, water, and wildlife resources during the 10 exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 11 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry is developing directional drilling technology that 12 will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner by minimizing the development 13 footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and this directional drilling technology 14 may be capable of drilling from outside of the boundaries of the 1002 study area; and 15 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 16 practices in the new field developments at Alpine and Northstar, and those techniques are 17 directly applicable to operating on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental 18 protection beyond traditionally high standards; and 19 WHEREAS the continued competitiveness and stability of the state and its economy 20 require that the Alaska State Legislature consider national trends toward renewable energy 21 development; and 22 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature encourages the use of revenue from 23 development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the development of renewable and 24 alternative energy resources in the state; 25 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 26 Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 27 to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; and be it 28 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges that oil and gas 29 exploration, development, and production activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 30 environment and the naturally occurring population levels of the Porcupine Caribou herd on 31 which the Gwich'in and other local residents depend, that uses directional drilling and other
01 advances in technology to minimize the development footprint in the 1002 study area, and 02 that uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible; and be it 03 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 04 Congress to pass legislation opening the 1002 study area for oil and gas development while 05 continuing to work on measures for increasing the development and use of renewable and 06 alternative energy technologies; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral 08 reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the 09 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting 10 less than the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from the federal land in the state 11 that was promised to the state at statehood. 12 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 13 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 14 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the 15 Interior; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 16 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 17 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, 18 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Energy and 19 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 20 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 21 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 112th United 22 States Congress.