Legislature(2013 - 2014)BUTROVICH 205
02/04/2013 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
Audio | Topic |
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Start | |
Presentation: Oil Resources: Economic Challenges and Opportunities | |
SB27 | |
SB26 | |
Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ | TELECONFERENCED | ||
+= | SB 26 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+= | SB 27 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 27-REGULATION OF DREDGE AND FILL ACTIVITIES 5:15:11 PM CHAIR GIESSEL called the meeting back to order at 5:15 p.m. and announced SB 27 to be up for consideration. JAMES SULLIVAN, Legislative Organizer, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), said he was neutral on SB 27, because its fiscal note showed approximately 12 employees being added to DNR and DEC, but they would come back with another budget request. The size of this new division had not been expressed, so, the real fiscal implications were unclear. Second, it's unclear which adjacent wet lands to certain navigable waters will remain under the federal program, and this confusion makes it impossible for them to understand what the intent of the administration is. He hoped that some of those questions could be answered in this committee before it moved on. 5:18:09 PM GUY ARCHIBALD, Coordinator, Mining and Clean Water, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), supported Mr. Sullivan's testimony on SB 27. He said this is a duplication of an already existing very large permitting operation that the Army Corps runs. He did a quick search and found there are probably 30 different Army Corps people who work within Alaska. So that's the capacity they are talking about here. He didn't see the need for this bill. He explained that every year the Fraser Institute does a survey of mining companies seeking to develop around the world. In 2012, they sent out over 5,000 surveys and got 800 back. Of those 800 companies that responded, they represent over $30 billion of investment in the mining projects around the world. Out of 90 separate mining districts in the world, Alaska ranked number 4 for both the permitting and resource evaluation. So, having the current system is not a deterrent to any kind of investment in this state at all, according to the mining companies that do the investment. He just didn't see the need for the state to take on this large burden of doing this permitting. MR. ARCHIBALD said he also tried to find an instance where someone had successfully challenged an Army Corps 404 permit and couldn't find one, so apparently they do an outstanding job. 5:20:30 PM JOHN HARRINGTON, representing himself, Ketchikan, Alaska, supported SB 27. He had served in various capacities with the borough, school board, planning commission and assembly and supported this initiative for several reasons. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough is roughly the size of the State of Connecticut and 96.5 percent of that area is owned by the federal government. Of the remaining 3.5 percent, the vast majority is owned by state, municipal governments, Native corporations, Mental Health Trust and the University Lands; the remainder of .03 percent is all that is held privately. This is the land that supports all of their programs tax-wise and because they happen to live in a rain forest that gets 12-14 feet of rain a year, it's always wet, so the Army Corps has interpreted "wetlands" very broadly to include all of the privately owned lands in the Ketchikan area. This puts an incredible burden on them as far as economic development; they could literally pave the entire .03 percent and have no demonstrable change in the water quality of their community. 5:22:26 PM TOM WILLIAMS, Director, Planning and Community Development, Ketchikan, Alaska, supported SB 27 on behalf of the Borough Assembly. 5:23:12 PM KARA MORIARTY, Executive Director, Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA), Anchorage, Alaska, supported SB 27. She applauded the governor's efforts to streamline the permitting processes as he has in the past with the introduction of bills like this and SB 26 authorizing general permitting and reforming procedures relating to the disposal of exchange of state lands. They appreciate the administration's intent to encourage responsible development of Alaska's resources by simplifying the permitting process. As they all go through the process of assuming primacy, they want to ensure being careful that the assumption of the section 404 primacy tangible streamlines the permitting process and does not instead result in duplicative or more cumbersome process, which is not the intent. To date, only two states, Michigan and New Jersey, have assumed 404 primacy and this is in contrast to the 45 states that have assumed primacy of point source discharge programs under section 402, commonly referred to as the NPDF Programs. AOGA was allowed to participate in that process, which did result in a more efficient permitting process. The state primacy of dredge and fill permitting may pose additional administrative and financial burdens that may be unique to section 404, but they won't know what all of those are in detail until the state is allowed to start the process. They applaud the administration's spoken objective to also pursue shared general permitting responsibility with the Corps in non-assumable waters by development of a state programmatic general permit. Both are seen as good steps. They are cognizant that there may be concerns with the section 404 assumption, such as not knowing for sure which wet lands and waters may or may not be subject to state assumption, but they know that those concerns will be examined more thoroughly by the administration after passage of this bill, which will allow the state to communicate with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Corps on these issues. MS. MORIARTY said if the bill is passed, they look forward to working in tandem with the administration and other stakeholders to ensure that the section 404 assumptions will be effective for both the state and the development community and that it is achievable in Alaska without unduly burdening state resources. CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further comments, closed public testimony, and said the bill would be held for a hearing in the future.
Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
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SRES Oil Resources- Economic Challenges & Opportunities Keithley 2013.02.04.pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
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SRES Arctic Oil and Natural Gas Potential, Energy Information Administration (Oct. 2009).pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
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SRES Maximum Sustainable Yield-FY 2014 Update, ISER (January 2013).pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
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SB 26 Opp Letter CindyBirkhimer 2013.02.04.pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
SB 26 |
SB 26 Opp Letter HalShepherd 2013.02.03.pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
SB 26 |
SB 26 Public Testimony LisaWeissler 2013.02.04.pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
SB 26 |
SB 27 Support AOGA testimony 20130204.pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
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SRES B. Keithley supplemental to Feb 4 2013 hearing.pdf |
SRES 2/4/2013 3:30:00 PM |
Oil Resources: Economic Challenges & Opportunities |