Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 124
01/18/2005 10:00 AM House OIL & GAS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HJR 4 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HJR 4 - ENDORSING ANWR LEASING 10:05:27 AM CHAIR KOHRING announced that the first order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 4, "Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and production." REPRESENTATIVE MIKE HAWKER, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of HJR 4, expressed his interest in opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil development, and stated that this resolution mirrors the language used in the prior year's resolution. 10:07:56 AM CHAIR KOHRING opened the meeting to public testimony. No one wished to testify, so he closed the public hearing. 10:09:06 AM KEVIN HAND, Director, Arctic Power, in response to questions from Representative Rokeberg, stated that Arctic Power personnel are hard at work in Washington, D.C. He said that lobbying is expensive and "our opponents ... have the capability to raise a much greater amount of resources than we do." He requested that Arctic Power be included in the governor's supplemental budget request for $1.85 million to continue efforts lobbying the U.S. Congress. He also mentioned HB 32, which would appropriate $1.3 million to Arctic Power. MR. HAND, in further response to Representative Rokeberg, clarified that Arctic Power has requested $1.85 million from the governor. He said that Arctic Power is "in somewhat of a healthy shape", and has been fundraising and soliciting the support of business, industry, and the people of Alaska. Although Arctic Power is able to fund its operations currently but he predicted "some things taking place in D.C. and nationwide where it would quickly exhaust our resources to be able to take place in that debate." 10:13:07 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked Mr. Hand if there was an "informal nosecount" of supporters in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. MR. HAND responded affirmatively, and stated that the election results have been favorable to Arctic Power, which has many supporters and strong allies in the U.S. Congress. He remarked that Arctic Power made specific gains in the U.S. Senate, where a net of three votes were picked up to [place ANWR] over the "threshold of 50 votes". He stated, "If it came up to an up- down vote in the U.S. Senate ... we have votes there hard and fast for the supporters of ANWR." 10:15:28 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG referred to the final resolve in HJR 4, which states: FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting less than the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from the federal land in Alaska that was promised to the state at statehood. REPRESENTATIVE ROKENBERG said that this has to do with the "historic 90:10 - 50:50 argument". He asked Mr. Hand to explain how that "plays in Washington" and what effect it has had in the past. MR. HAND answered that the resolution calls for a 90:10 split to the State of Alaska. He mentioned that, historically, the U.S. Congress has changed this to a 50:50 split, "There is some question with the Statehood Act and such, with the legal precedent it involved". He pointed out that U.S. Congressman Don Young has refiled a bill which calls for a 90:10 split to the State of Alaska. 10:18:29 AM CHAIR KOHRING requested that the committee take action on the legislation, acknowledging that there was an amendment that the committee needed to address. REPRESENTATIVE SAMUELS moved to adopt Amendment 1, labeled 24- LS0179\A.1, Chenoweth, 1/14/05, which read: Page 3, line 23, following "Representatives;": Insert: "the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives;" Page 3, line 24, following "Senate;" Insert: "the Honorable Harry Reid, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Pete V. Domenici, Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate;" REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG objected for discussion purposes. REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER explained that the amendment would make a minor change to HJR 4; it would add three names to the list of resolution recipients. 10:19:58 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked how much it would cost to make additional copies of the resolution to send to "the Democrats who've never supported this position". He voiced his concern about "the reluctance on the part of the Democratic Party as a party platform as well as ... through their leadership in Congress to not support this concept in the past." CHAIR KOHRING commented that the resolution wouldn't be sent to all members of the Democratic or Republican parties, just to certain leaders. REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER noted that for the Alaska State Democratic Party, "It is part of the party platform to open ANWR and it does us no harm, and could be of great benefit, to underline that with the national leaders as well." REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG agreed with the "theory of trying to broaden the net and [get] more support for this". He said, "Organized labor has supported this in the past and I look forward to their support in the future because of the amount of jobs this activity would generate throughout the country." He withdrew his objection. 10:22:07 AM There being no objection, Amendment 1 was adopted. 10:22:15 AM REPRESENTATIVE SAMUELS moved to report HJR 4 as amended out of committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal note. There being no objection, it was so moved.
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