03/21/2005 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB85 | |
| SB144 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 85 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 144 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 21, 2005
3:40 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Thomas Wagoner, Chair
Senator Ralph Seekins, Vice Chair
Senator Ben Stevens
Senator Fred Dyson
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Kim Elton
Senator Gretchen Guess
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Donny Olson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 85
"An Act repealing the ban on the use of certain off-road
vehicles within five miles of the right-of-way of the James
Dalton Highway; and providing for an effective date."
HEARD AND HELD
SENATE BILL NO. 144
"An Act relating to regulations, definitions, and permits under
the emission control permit program; and providing for an
effective date."
MOVED CSSB 144(RES) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 85
SHORT TITLE: OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE ON DALTON HIGHWAY
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) SEEKINS
01/31/05 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/31/05 (S) TRA, RES
02/08/05 (H) TRA AT 1:30 PM CAPITOL 17
02/08/05 (S) Scheduled But Not Heard
02/15/05 (S) TRA AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
02/15/05 (S) Heard & Held
02/15/05 (S) MINUTE(TRA)
02/17/05 (S) TRA AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
02/17/05 (S) Moved SB 85 Out of Committee
02/17/05 (S) MINUTE(TRA)
02/18/05 (S) TRA RPT 3DP 1DNP
02/18/05 (S) DP: HUGGINS, COWDERY, THERRIAULT
02/18/05 (S) DNP: FRENCH
03/21/05 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
BILL: SB 144
SHORT TITLE: EMISSION CONTROL PROGRAM PERMITS/REGS
SPONSOR(s): RESOURCES
03/16/05 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/16/05 (S) RES, FIN
03/21/05 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
BRIAN HOVE
Staff to Senator Seekins
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced SB 85.
THOR STACEY
Weisman AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 85.
MARY JACKSON
Staff to Senator Wagoner
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced SB 144 for the sponsor.
JOHN KUTERBACH, Manager,
Air Permits Program
Department of Environmental Conservation
410 Willoughby
Juneau, AK 99801-1795
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 144.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR RALPH SEEKINS called the Senate Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:40:49 PM. Senators Elton, Guess,
Stedman, Dyson and Vice Chair Seekins were present.
SB 85-OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE ON DALTON HIGHWAY
CHAIR SEEKINS announced SB 85 to be up for consideration.
BRIAN HOVE, Staff to Senator Seekins, sponsor of SB 85, read the
sponsor statement. He said the Dalton Highway is the only road
north of the Yukon River. Current law bans the use of off-road
vehicles within five miles of the highway's right of way.
Starting at mile 57, the Yukon River crossing, the Dalton
Highway extends 357 miles north to the Arctic Ocean. This law
essentially prohibits access for average Alaskans to recreate on
public land that would otherwise be open to their use. SB 85
removes the prohibition on the use of off-road vehicles within
the five-mile corridor of the Dalton Highway. It provides 12
months for owners to work on land use plans to prepare for it.
In accordance with those plans, campgrounds, trails and public
use cabins could be built while protecting sensitive areas. The
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) already has turnouts, restrooms
and visitor centers constructed to accommodate increased public
interest in this part of Alaska, which is attracting more and
more visitors.
3:44:34 PM
SENATOR GUESS asked the definition of off-road vehicles.
MR. HOVE replied snow machines and ATVs. Snow is on the ground
nine months out of the year up there and trappers have their
trap lines.
CHAIR SEEKINS said off-road vehicle is not defined in statute,
but statute does say:
Off-road vehicles are prohibited on land within five
miles of the right-of-way of the highway. However,
this prohibition does not apply to off-road vehicles
necessary for oil and gas exploration, development,
production or transportation, a person who holds a
mining claim in the vicinity of the highway who must
use the land to be able to get there and the use of
snow machine travel across the highway corridor from
land outside the corridor to access land outside the
other side of the corridor. This paragraph does not
permit the use of snow machines for any purpose within
the corridor if the use begins or ends within the
corridor or within the right-of-way of the highway or
if the use is for travel within the corridor that is
parallel to the right-of-way of the highway or if the
use is for travel within the corridor that is parallel
to the right-of-way of the highway.
He said the highway corridor means lands within five miles of
the highway right-of-way. So, there's a 10-mile stretch that you
can't unload the snow machine off your truck and use it anywhere
in there.
The landowners are primarily the BLM and Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) and he asked them if 12 months would be a
reasonable time for them to put in place the land use plans they
have had or that they have contemplated having eventually. Those
would restrict types of vehicles and time of year they could be
used like they do everyplace else in the United States on public
lands.
3:47:12 PM
SENATOR BEN STEVENS arrived.
3:48:15 PM
SENATOR GUESS asked if federal or state law requires them to do
the land use plan.
SENATOR SEEKINS replied that he didn't know that the BLM is
required to do that under federal law, but they have the
authority and have had their draft plan since 1991.
SENATOR DYSON asked what the history behind the prohibition is.
No one wants to see raping and pillaging of the country because
of open access.
SENATOR SEEKINS replied that the Dalton Highway was not a
secondary public highway until some time after its construction,
but it was open to the public. He has not been able to find a
single document that indicates what the intent was or any kind
of an agreement between parties.
It was simply meant at that time, from what we can
tell, to protect the environment so that, again, we
could perhaps see land use plans that went into effect
to be able to keep from having, as you said, the rape
and pillage of that land, which no one wants to see.
3:53:18 PM
MR. HOVE presented a map of the Dalton Highway.
CHAIR SEEKINS presented a slide show of his trip up the Dalton
Highway.
4:04:12 PM
End of slide show.
4:04:49 PM
SENATOR GUESS asked if Alyeska Pipeline Company supports SB 85
and does it have security concerns.
CHAIR SEEKINS said Alyeska understands that the whole pipeline
has security concerns. If more people are going to be up there,
Alyeska has said it wants the state's help in addressing
security concerns.
4:06:50 PM
CHAIR WAGONER arrived and took the gavel from Chair Seekins.
4:07:53 PM
SENATOR SEEKINS said it's time to plan for when the public uses
the lands along the Dalton Highway. He has no intention of
opening up the corridor to all-terrain trucks, etc.
4:09:38 PM
THOR STACY, Weisman Village, said he is a registered guide,
trapper and life-long Alaskan. He believes in the use of non-
renewable and renewable resources. He stated:
First of all, I want to dispel some myths on SB 85
that have been presented in its favor. For the record,
I'm opposed to SB 85. First of all, the perception
that a large part of Alaska would be opened up that
has been 'locked up'. As you can see from the land use
map...most of the land north of the Yukon is federal
refuges, parks and preserve. This will, by federal
statute, not be opened up to off-road vehicle use -
thus creating intensive use on state DNR land that
they have already discussed building on, which they
have a plan for.
He said that this would be a unnecessary law, because people are
already using off-road vehicles and there is no enforcement.
There are already legal accesses for mineral exploration,
private lands beyond the corridor, going through the corridor
from one side to another on snow machine and others.
MR. STACY said further:
There is a perception that the land is unused and an
underutilized resource. That's also incorrect. Right
now our game population on state lands - and I'm
familiar with it as a hunting guide...I use these as a
trapper.... We're having a hard year this year. We're
having a bad time for moose. We're at maximum
sustained yield. We have a very low density moose
population in the Yukon flats and the mountains of the
Brooks Range - averaging .1 to .2 moose per square
mile. It's a very different part of the world than the
sub-arctic parts of Alaska.
4:13:22 PM
He said another myth is that there is extensive infrastructure
in place to support expanded use. Existing pullouts are there
for heavy industrial traffic to support commercial
infrastructure on the North Slope. Recreation vehicles will
cause a serious hazard for commercial traffickers.
4:14:21 PM
MR. STACY said four caribou herds will be accessed by this road
currently, they are all depleted requiring intensive management
by the state, which is in violation of its constitutional
mandate of sustained yield. Unit 16 has a high predator harvest
to reestablish equilibrium in nature. Currently there are non-
resident seasons for moose or caribou in those areas because
there is a tier system of local subsistence. He did not think it
would take much stretch of the imagination to see the impacts on
all three of the caribou herds that cross the road.
4:15:54 PM
He pointed out that access is tool that can be used to manage
remote resources. There is one game warden at Coldfoot for
enforcement of the entire Brooks Range, the foothills and north
to the Arctic Coast. He is competent, but he won't be able to
respond to the additional access and use problems. SB 85 needs a
fiscal note because enforcement will cost the state more than it
does now.
4:18:07 PM
There are no trails or off-road vehicle tracks in the
wilderness, although there are mining trails that were put in
100 years ago. He said the tracks from an off-road vehicles will
be left for over 100 years. "The impact at first will be small,
but in time it won't be what it was."
Right now it is legal to use airplanes, horses, boats, walking;
there is no restriction on reasonable access. The system
protects the resource. People come to Weisman for the wilderness
and the state doesn't need to spend money to maintain a slow
deterioration.
SENATOR SEEKINS asked where his trap line is.
4:21:59 PM
MR. STACY outlined several of his trails.
SENATOR SEEKINS asked him if he accessed it with a snow machine.
MR. STACY replied yes.
SENATOR SEEKINS asked him if he knew that is illegal.
MR. STACY replied that it's not illegal for subsistence
activities.
4:22:42 PM
SENATOR SEEKINS said it is illegal according to state law.
MR. STACY responded that subsistence activities are not allowed
with a snow machine on state land.
SENATOR SEEKINS said that he is trying to correct for reasonable
access so people are not breaking the law.
CHAIR WAGONER closed the hearing due to no phone lines and said
he would hold the bill.
SB 144-EMISSION CONTROL PROGRAM PERMITS/REGS
CHAIR THOMAS WAGONER announced SB 144 to be up for
consideration.
4:28:15 PM
SENATOR SEEKINS moved CSSB 144(RES), Version F. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
MARY JACKSON, staff to Senator Wagoner, said the discussion on
this bill has been around its definitions on page 6. "Stationary
source" has the meaning given in 40 C.F.R. 51.66 and SB 144
inserts "or 40 C.F.R. 70.2, depending on the context in which
the term is used." The department did not feel comfortable
working with the previous definition. It was felt that the most
reasonable way to clarify it was to reference federal
definitions. She pointed out that SB 144 has a zero fiscal note.
4:30:36 PM
SENATOR GUESS asked about the impact and purpose of the July 1,
2005 effective date.
MS. JACKSON deferred the answer to the department.
4:31:01 PM
JOHN KUTERBACH, Manager, Air Permits Program, Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC), explained that two years ago
Governor Murkowski started to reform Alaska's air permit
programs to better meet the needs of our state.
The reforms were intended to make Alaska's air permit
programs more consistent with the underlying federal
requirements. Consistency with federal law would allow
Alaska to take advantage of the flexibility afforded
by changes in federal law and to follow the guidance
and interpretations used elsewhere in the nation. We
have completed the necessary regulations and are ready
to submit them for federal approval. However, we found
several places where the statute did not quite meet
federal requirements.
We need to require operating permits for groups of
stationery sources. We need the definitions of
'emissions unit' and 'stationery source' to include
both the federal construction permit and the federal
operating permit definitions. And we need to insure
that all permittees pay their assessed emission fees.
This bill makes these technical corrections and allows
the department to revoke a minor permit when a
permittee refuses to pay their fees.
4:32:41 PM
MS. JACKSON repeated Senator Guess's question about the July 1,
2005 effective date.
MR. KUTERBACH replied that he wasn't certain, but suspected that
it might have to do with the fact that the permitting fees have
a split in their fund source that occurs at the beginning of
next fiscal year.
CHAIR WAGONER said that Steve Mulder from the Department of Law
could answer further legal questions. There was no further
testimony.
4:33:54 PM
SENATOR DYSON moved to pass CSSB 144(RES) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was
so ordered.
CHAIR WAGONER adjourned the meeting at 4:34:20 PM.
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