02/19/1997 03:40 PM Senate RES

                                                                               
            HJR 12 LEASES IN NATL PETROLEUM RESERVE                           
                                                                              
    VICE       CHAIRMAN GREEN  called the Senate Resources Committee me        
 to order at 3:40 p.m. and announced  HJR 12  to be up for                     
 consideration.                                                                
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN , sponsor of HJR 12, said it urges the              
 federal government to continue with what they already have the                
 right to do which is to resume leasing in the Arctic Petroleum                
 Reserve.  Historically, in 1923 President Harding established Naval           
 Petroleum Reserve 4 along with three others in the lower 48 because           
 it seemed prudent to have a ready supply of petroleum to power our            
 naval warships.  Shortly after this there were lots of discoveries            
 and until the early war years of WWII there was practically no                
 activity.  In 1943 activity was renewed and by the time of the                
 Korean War about 45 shallow wells had been drilled along with 36              
 core tests.  In that process three deposits of oil and three                  
 separate deposits of gas were found, but none large enough to be              
 considered commercial.  The bottom line is that there are still no            
 commercial finds of oil and gas in the Reserve.                               
                                                                               
 He directed their attention to a map of the wells that are                    
 scattered all over the reserve.  There are none west of Nuiqsut or            
 the Colville Delta which is the region of great concern now because           
 of the alpine discovery announced by ARCO earlier this year.                  
                                                                               
 The indication is very strong that the accumulation either extends            
 across the river or that there may be ancillary oil accumulations             
 with major finds.                                                             
                                                                               
 In the interests of trying to develop the field to its fullest, it            
 seems only prudent that there would be leases granted by the                  
 government to interested oil companies.  The Governor has                     
 encouraged the federal administration to open NPRA and Secretary              
 Babbit has indicated this might be a good thing to do.                        
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE GREEN  said he had a meeting with the federal                 
 government on whether there would be a need for a new Environmental           
 Impact Statement (EIS) or just an update of the existing EIS that             
 was done in 1982.  The BLM has indicated an update that might take            
 18 months.  He is concerned that if it is just an update of an                
 existing EIS, why it would take 18 months.  He thought we should              
 make sure they are going to honor their commitment to allow leasing           
 there.  He thought HJR 12 sends a unified message from the State of           
 Alaska saying we are interested in resuming leasing there and                 
 developing.  He said we are doing this is in addition to, not                 
 instead of, ANWR.                                                             
                                                                               
 Number 144                                                                    
                                                                               
  SENATOR LINCOLN  said she was not trying to slow down this                   
 legislation, but she wanted to add a Further Resolve clause stating           
 that "the activity be conducted in a manner that protects the                 
 environment and uses the State's workforce to the maximum extent              
 possible."  REPRESENTATIVE GREEN said he had no objection to doing            
 that.    SENATOR LINCOLN said this was the same language used in              
 Senator Pearce's legislation and moved that language as an                    
 amendment.                                                                    
                                                                               
  SENATOR TAYLOR  objected for purposes of discussion because he               
 thought it was done before as a WHEREAS clause.  He said he                   
 appreciates the concerns, but everytime they talk about making mud            
 in this State, we have to have some language claiming to the world            
 that we're going to be pure in the way we do it.  He didn't know of           
 any experiences up there in the last 15 - 20 years where                      
 environmental concerns haven't been the overriding concern.  He               
 didn't want to send any false hope in a resolution form that would            
 indicate that we could somehow force the hiring of Alaskans.                  
                                                                               
 SENATOR LINCOLN said this is the exact language proposed by Senator           
 Pearce in her resolution that was adopted.                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR said he would withdraw his objection.                          
                                                                               
  SENATOR LEMAN  said the amendment Senator Lincoln was referring to           
 was a WHEREAS clause which he supported in the other resolution and           
 he would suggest putting it in as the last WHEREAS.  REPRESENTATIVE           
 GREEN said having it as a WHEREAS would remove the possibility of             
 some bureaucrats in Washington looking at this saying they had to             
 put this in as a Resolve because they haven't been doing it in the            
 past.  He thought we should make every effort to let them know we             
 have been doing this all along.                                               
                                                                               
  SENATOR TORGERSON  said he had the same question on the second               
 FURTHER RESOLVE - if that shouldn't be a WHEREAS because it looks             
 like it's directed at the legislature.                                        
                                                                               
  SENATOR LEMAN  moved to adopt the amendment to the amendment.   VICE-        
 CHAIRMAN GREEN  said she opposed the amendment and asked                      
 Representative Green what he would like to do.                                
                                                                               
 There was some confusion as the committee discovered they were                
 referencing the wrong version of HJR 12.  They received the                   
 corrected version, HJR 12am and  SENATOR LINCOLN  suggested this              
 wording, "WHEREAS exploration and development shall be conducted in           
 a manner consistent with the State's on-going commitment to                   
 protecting the environment and utilizing its workforce to the                 
 maximum extent possible; and."  She, then, withdrew her original              
 amendment and offered the new language as an amendment.   SENATOR             
 LEMAN  objected to change "shall" to "will" so they wouldn't be               
 commanding themselves to do something.  He removed his objection.             
    VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN  objected to make sure that all the verbs were         
 in agreement.                                                                 
                                                                               
  SENATOR TAYLOR  moved to pass HJR 12  am(RES) from committee with            
 individual recommendations and asked for unanimous consent.  There            
 were no objections and it was so ordered.