00                       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9                                                                     
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 development; urging the United States                                    
03 Department of the Interior to recognize the private property rights of owners of land in                                
04 and adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; relating to oil and gas exploration,                               
05 development, production, and royalties; and relating to renewable and alternative                                       
06 energy technologies.                                                                                                    
07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
08       WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands                                     
09 Conservation Act), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further oil and gas                          
10 exploration, development, and production within the coastal plain of the Arctic National                                
11 Wildlife Refuge; and                                                                                                    
12       WHEREAS the oil industry, the state, and the United States Department of the                                    
13 Interior consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential for discovery of very large oil                       
14 and gas accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as                                     

01 10,000,000,000 barrels of recoverable oil; and                                                                          
02       WHEREAS the "1002 study area" is part of the coastal plain located within the North                             
03 Slope Borough, and many of the residents of the North Slope Borough, who are                                            
04 predominantly Inupiat, are supportive of development in the "1002 study area"; and                                      
05       WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the refuge                              
06 and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's dependency                           
07 on oil produced by hostile foreign nations, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and                                
08 significantly increase the nation's security; and                                                                       
09       WHEREAS the state's and the nation's future energy independence would be                                        
10 enhanced with additional natural gas production from the North Slope of Alaska, including                               
11 what are expected to be significant gas reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and                            
12 the development of those reserves would enhance the economic viability of the proposed                                  
13 liquefied natural gas project; 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 national asset that would cost                                      
20 billions of dollars to replace, would have its useful physical life extended for a substantial                          
21 period if the additional reserves of recoverable oil from the coastal plain were produced; and                          
22       WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System is currently being extended to leases at                               
23 Point Thomson, an area bordering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and oil produced in                               
24 the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would require only the additional construction of a                                 
25 pipeline to Point Thomson to deliver oil to market; and                                                                 
26       WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska may                                      
27 temporarily slow the decline in production, only allowing access to the state's coastal plain                           
28 fields would enable the production volume of Alaska oil to increase by up to 700,000 barrels a                          
29 day; and                                                                                                                
30       WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now                                    
31 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national                                 

01 security review; and                                                                                                    
02       WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge makes up less than eight                                 
03 percent of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and development of the oil and gas reserves in the                               
04 refuge's coastal plain would affect a limited area as defined by the United States Congress;                            
05 and                                                                                                                     
06       WHEREAS 8,900,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set                                   
07 aside as wilderness; and                                                                                                
08       WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations                                
09 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it is capable of conducting oil and gas activity without                           
10 adversely affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and                                                        
11       WHEREAS the state will continue to strive to ensure the ongoing health and                                      
12 productivity of the Porcupine and Central Arctic caribou herds and the protection of land,                              
13 water, and wildlife resources during the exploration and development of the coastal plain of                            
14 the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and                                                                                
15       WHEREAS the oil and gas industry has developed directional drilling technology that                             
16 will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner by minimizing the development                                    
17 footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and that 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 new field developments, and those techniques are directly applicable to operating                          
21 on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental protection beyond traditionally high                               
22 standards; and                                                                                                          
23       WHEREAS the state recognizes that the economic prosperity of the state is dependent                             
24 on available, reliable, and affordable energy; and                                                                      
25       WHEREAS the state promotes the development of renewable and alternative energy                                  
26 resources and created the Alaska Energy Authority to assist the state in advancing new energy                           
27 projects and technology; and                                                                                            
28       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature encourages the use of revenue from                                         
29 development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the development of renewable and                                 
30 alternative energy resources in the state;                                                                              
31       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges that oil and gas                                         

01 exploration, development, and production activity be conducted in a manner that protects the                            
02 environment and the naturally occurring population levels of the Porcupine caribou herd on                              
03 which the Inupiat, Gwich'in, and other local residents depend, that uses directional drilling                           
04 and other advances in technology to minimize the development footprint in the 1002 study                                
05 area, and that uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible; and be it                                    
06       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                      
07 Congress to pass legislation opening the 1002 study area for oil and gas development while                              
08 continuing to work on measures for increasing the development and use of renewable and                                  
09 alternative energy technologies; and be it                                                                              
10       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                      
11 Department of the Interior to recognize and respect the rights of Native landowners in and                              
12 adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 study area, including the rights of the                            
13 Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation to develop their land                            
14 and resource entitlements received under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and other                              
15 agreements; and be it                                                                                                 
16       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral                                       
17 reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the                               
18 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the state into accepting less than                            
19 the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from the federal land in the state that was                       
20 promised to the state at statehood.                                                                                     
21       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
22 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
23 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Sally Jewell, United States Secretary of the                                
24 Interior; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                 
25 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                       
26 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Harry Reid,                                
27 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, Chair of the Energy and                               
28 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senator,                               
29 and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in                                   
30 Congress; and all other members of the 114th United States Congress.