HJR 22: Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation imposing a moratorium on the issuance of new air quality regulations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and legislation prohibiting the United States Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions; and requesting that the federal government prepare a report on the effects of proposed regulatory activity by the United States Environmental Protection Agency relating to air quality.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 22 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation imposing a moratorium on the 02 issuance of new air quality regulations by the United States Environmental Protection 03 Agency and legislation prohibiting the United States Environmental Protection Agency 04 from regulating greenhouse gas emissions; and requesting that the federal government 05 prepare a report on the effects of proposed regulatory activity by the United States 06 Environmental Protection Agency relating to air quality. 07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has proposed or is 09 proposing numerous regulations relating to air quality and regulation of greenhouse gases, 10 which are likely to have major effects on the state's economy, jobs, and competitiveness in 11 world markets; and 12 WHEREAS regulatory activity by the United States Environmental Protection 13 Agency regarding air quality has been called a "train wreck" because of the potential for both 14 numerous overlapping requirements and devastating economic consequences; and
01 WHEREAS cap and trade legislation failed in the United States Congress, and the 02 Alaska State Legislature is concerned that the United States Environmental Protection Agency 03 will attempt to achieve through regulation what the United States Congress did not see fit to 04 pass; and 05 WHEREAS the regulatory burden currently imposed by the United States 06 Environmental Protection Agency is already driving jobs and industry out of the United 07 States; and 08 WHEREAS no entity in the federal executive branch has undertaken a comprehensive 09 study to determine the cumulative effects of additional regulatory activity on the nation's 10 economy, jobs, or competitiveness in world markets; and 11 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has not conducted a 12 comprehensive study of the benefits to the global climate that may result from the regulation 13 of greenhouse gases; and 14 WHEREAS state agencies are routinely required to identify and justify the costs and 15 benefits of state regulations; and 16 WHEREAS, because the United States Environmental Protection Agency has 17 identified "taking action on climate change and improving air quality" as its first strategic 18 goal for the period 2011 - 2015, the agency should be required to identify the specific actions 19 it intends to take to achieve that goal and to identify and justify the cost of regulatory actions 20 to be taken in pursuit of that goal; and 21 WHEREAS, at the present time, the primary goal of state and federal government 22 should be to promote the nation's economic recovery and to foster a stable and predictable 23 business environment that will create jobs; and 24 WHEREAS the public health and welfare will suffer without economic improvement 25 and the creation of new jobs because employed persons are better able to care for themselves 26 and their families than are unemployed persons, and because long-term environmental 27 protection, including that of the nation's air quality, is possible only in a society that generates 28 wealth; and 29 WHEREAS the Arctic region of the state contains oil accumulations of an estimated 30 30,000,000,000 barrels, representing one and one-half times the total oil reserves in the 31 United States and more than 22 percent of the estimated oil resources remaining in all other
01 areas of the United States; and 02 WHEREAS the Arctic region of the state contains an estimated 6,000,000,000 barrels 03 of natural gas liquids and 220 trillion cubic feet of natural gas; and 04 WHEREAS development of the oil and gas resources of the outer continental shelf 05 area of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas would create an approximate average of 55,000 jobs in 06 the United States for at least 50 years, with $145,000,000,000 in payroll compensation, and 07 would generate more than $190,000,000,000 of additional revenue for the state and federal 08 governments; and 09 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has been unable to 10 issue a single usable air permit to allow for exploratory drilling on the state's outer continental 11 shelf and, as a result, has stopped all exploration for new domestic energy on the state's outer 12 continental shelf; and 13 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency's inability over the 14 past 50 years to draft a workable air permit has had significant negative effects on the state 15 and national economies, creation of jobs, and competitiveness in world markets at a time 16 when the state and nation urgently need jobs to be created and new sources of domestic 17 energy to be developed; 18 BE IT RESOLVED that, while the Alaska State Legislature supports continuing 19 efforts to improve the nation's air quality, the legislature believes that improvement in air 20 quality can be made without damaging the nation's economy; and be it 21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on the United States 22 Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the United States Environmental Protection Agency 23 from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, including, if necessary, legislation to withdraw 24 funding from greenhouse gas regulatory activities by the United States Environmental 25 Protection Agency; and be it 26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 27 Congress to pass legislation imposing a two-year moratorium on the issuance of new air 28 quality regulations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, except as may be 29 necessary to address an imminent health or environmental emergency; and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the federal 31 government undertake a study that
01 (1) identifies all regulatory activity that the United States Environmental 02 Protection Agency intends to undertake in furtherance of the agency's goal of "taking action 03 on climate change and improving air quality"; 04 (2) identifies the cumulative effects of proposed regulations on the economy, 05 jobs, and national economic competitiveness in world markets; 06 (3) involves a multi-agency effort that draws on the expertise of the United 07 States Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies and departments; and 08 (4) provides an objective cost-benefit analysis of the United States 09 Environmental Protection Agency's existing and planned regulations relating to air quality. 10 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 11 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 12 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. 13 Environmental Protection Agency; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. 14 Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable 15 John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, 16 Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and 17 the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 18 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and the presiding officers of 19 the legislatures of each of the other 49 states.