HJR 12: 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 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12 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 10,400,000,000 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 07 expected to be significant gas reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the 08 development of those reserves would enhance the economic viability of the proposed Alaska 09 Natural Gas 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, 14 Ooguruk, Alpine, and Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United 15 States, and projected job creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a 16 positive effect in all 50 states; and 17 WHEREAS Prudhoe Bay production is declining, and the Trans Alaska Pipeline 18 System is operating at only one-third of its 1988 peak throughput; 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, Lisburne, Ooguruk, and West Sak, may temporarily slow the decline in 25 production, only giant coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasing the 26 production volume of 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 2,000 acres or less, which is less than one-half of 02 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 Central Arctic Caribou herd has increased from 5,000 animals in 09 1975 to over 66,000 animals in recent years, despite oil exploration, development, and 10 production at Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk; and 11 WHEREAS the state will strive to ensure the continued health and productivity of the 12 Porcupine Caribou herd and the Central Arctic Caribou herd, and the protection of land, 13 water, and other wildlife resources during the exploration and development of the coastal 14 plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 15 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry is developing directional drilling technology that 16 will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner thereby minimizing the development 17 footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and this directional drilling technology 18 may be capable of drilling from outside of the boundaries of the 1002 study area; and 19 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 20 practices in the new field developments at Alpine and Northstar, and those techniques are 21 directly applicable to operating on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental 22 protection beyond traditionally high standards; and 23 WHEREAS the continued competitiveness and stability of the state and its economy 24 require that the Alaska State Legislature consider national trends toward renewable energy 25 development; and 26 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature encourages the use of revenue from any 27 development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the development of renewable energy 28 resources in the state; 29 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the United States Congress 30 is urged to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to 31 oil and gas exploration, development, and production, and that the Alaska State Legislature is
01 adamantly opposed to further wilderness or other restrictive designation in the area of the 02 coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and be it 03 FURTHER RESOLVED that that activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 04 environment and the naturally occurring population levels of the Porcupine Caribou herd and 05 the Central Arctic Caribou herd on which the Gwich'in and other local residents depend, that 06 uses directional drilling and other advances in technology to minimize the development 07 footprint in the 1002 study area, and that uses the state's workforce to the maximum extent 08 possible; and be it 09 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 10 Congress to pass legislation opening the 1002 study area for oil and gas development while 11 continuing to work on measures for increasing the development and use of renewable energy 12 technologies; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral 14 reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the 15 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting 16 less than the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from the federal land in Alaska 17 that was promised to the state at statehood. 18 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 19 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 20 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the 21 Interior; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 22 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 23 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, 24 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Energy and 25 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 26 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 27 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 112th United 28 States Congress.