00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 49(RES)                                                                               
01 Requesting the United States Department of the Interior to adopt regulations that                                       
02 give a narrow interpretation to certain definitions under the Oil Pollution Act of                                      
03 1990 relating to evidence of financial responsibility that must be shown by                                             
04 offshore facilities.                                                                                                    
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06  WHEREAS the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 has been interpreted to require offshore                                         
07 facilities operating on most surface water and adjacent wetlands to maintain evidence of                                
08 financial responsibility in the amount of $150,000,000; and                                                             
09  WHEREAS the federal definition of "wetlands" includes virtually all nonmountainous                                     
10 areas in Alaska; and                                                                                                    
11  WHEREAS the Act defines "offshore facility" to include a structure, equipment, or                                      
12 device, other than a vessel or deep water port, used for the purpose of exploring for, drilling                         
13 for, producing, storing, handling, transferring, processing, or transporting oil in, under, or on                       
14 any United States navigable or territorial water; and                                                                   

01  WHEREAS the Act defines "facility" to specifically include motor vehicles, rolling                                     
02 stock, and pipelines; and                                                                                               
03  WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature is concerned that, without further                                                
04 clarification, these definitions might be interpreted in regulations so that "offshore facilities"                      
05 include marinas, port facilities, utility companies, gasoline filling stations, trucking companies,                     
06 railroads, refineries, airports, farms, fishing boats and tenders, manufacturing plants, storage                        
07 tanks, and pipelines, no matter how tangentially related to offshore oil exploration or                                 
08 production; and                                                                                                         
09  WHEREAS this kind of interpretation would be much broader than appears to have                                         
10 been intended by the Congress when it established financial responsibility requirements for                             
11 offshore facilities; and                                                                                                
12  WHEREAS implementation of a $150,000,000 financial responsibility requirement on                                       
13 offshore facilities under a broad interpretation of the regulations would have a significantly                          
14 adverse effect on Alaska villages and municipalities and would probably devastate the                                   
15 economy of Alaska; and                                                                                                  
16  WHEREAS the Department of the Interior did not hold hearings in Alaska on the                                          
17 proposed regulations;                                                                                                   
18  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the                                                
19 Department of the Interior to interpret the definitions of "navigable waters," "offshore facility,"                     
20 and "responsible party" in the financial responsibility regulations of the Oil Pollution Act as                         
21 narrowly as practicable; and be it                                                                                      
22  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of the Interior should propose to the                                             
23 Congress appropriate amendments to the Oil Pollution Act if narrowing regulations are not                               
24 sufficient to protect the environment without inflicting extreme economic hardships; and be                             
25 it                                                                                                                      
26  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of the Interior should hold hearings in                                           
27 Alaska before adopting any regulations under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.                                             
28  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable J. Bennett Johnston, U.S.                                     
29 Senator and Chair of the U.S. Senate Natural Resources Committee; the Honorable Bruce                                   
30 Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; Tom Fry, Director, Minerals Management Service, U.S.                                
31 Department of the Interior; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank                                    

01 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
02 the Alaska delegation in Congress.