HJR 54: Encouraging the lessees of Alaska's vast North Slope natural gas reserves to reach agreement to market gas, expressing the legislature's support for an Alaska North Slope (ANS) gas transmission pipeline, and requesting the President of the United States and the Governor of the State of Alaska to publicly support and take action that will help expedite the construction of that system.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 54 01 Encouraging the lessees of Alaska's vast North Slope natural gas reserves to reach 02 agreement to market gas, expressing the legislature's support for an Alaska North 03 Slope (ANS) gas transmission pipeline, and requesting the President of the United 04 States and the Governor of the State of Alaska to publicly support and take 05 action that will help expedite the construction of that system. 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS Alaska has 26,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves 08 in the Prudhoe Bay and associated North Slope oil and gas fields and perhaps two to three 09 times that amount of potential natural gas reserves; and 10 WHEREAS, by the end of this century, there will be a significant and increasing gap 11 between supply and demand for natural gas in developing countries in the Pacific Rim; and 12 WHEREAS market and economic studies indicate favorable conditions for the sale of 13 North Slope gas to these Pacific Rim markets; and 14 WHEREAS a determination has been made that at least one possible pipeline route
01 is feasible, and action on permits for that route has been completed; and 02 WHEREAS the sale of Alaska gas to Pacific Rim markets will improve the nation's 03 trade imbalance by approximately $4,000,000,000 a year without adversely affecting other 04 industries or labor; and 05 WHEREAS the design, sourcing, and construction of a gas transmission line 06 connecting the North Slope and an all-weather port like Valdez will infuse an estimated 07 $6,500,000,000 into economies throughout the United States; and 08 WHEREAS the construction of such a pipeline would provide 10,000 temporary 09 construction jobs and over 600 permanent private sector jobs in Alaska; and 10 WHEREAS the State of Alaska will earn some $400,000,000 a year from projected 11 gas sales, which would help fill the state's fiscal gap; and 12 WHEREAS a gas pipeline across Alaska will make available environmentally friendly 13 energy along the pipeline route and encourage development that will increase local 14 employment and local tax revenue; and 15 WHEREAS the Alaska Municipal League's 1996 policy statement includes the 16 following language: "The League, therefore, strongly encourages all potential participants in 17 the project, including the State of Alaska, to immediately convene to develop a unified 18 proposal to present to the Asian LNG buyers so that all Alaskans will directly benefit from 19 this unique opportunity"; and 20 WHEREAS natural gas stored and transported as a cryogenic liquid rather than as 21 pressurized gas presents no significant risk to the public; and 22 WHEREAS time is of the essence in securing a market for Alaska North Slope (ANS) 23 gas because 24 (1) a market window is expected to develop in the Asian Pacific within the 25 next few years; and 26 (2) if gas sale contracts are not signed during this period, it appears that Alaska 27 will not have another opportunity for large volume gas sales for at least another decade; and 28 WHEREAS Taiwanese and South Korean buyers have issued letters of intent to 29 purchase ANS Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG); and 30 WHEREAS Japanese buyers must also commit to buying ANS LNG to make an 31 Alaskan project feasible, but these buyers require precommitments on price, volume, and other
01 conditions of sale from North Slope gas producers; 02 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the North 03 Slope natural gas lessees to intensify their efforts to establish satisfactory contractual 04 relationships for transportation and sale of ANS gas to Pacific Rim purchasers as soon as 05 possible; and be it 06 FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Alaska respectfully requests the President 07 of the United States to demonstrate national support for an ANS gas transmission project to 08 Asian LNG buyers; and be it 09 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is respectfully requested to 10 (1) assure the Asian LNG buyers that the state will provide continuity and 11 stability in regards to North Slope natural gas supply, tax structure, and regulatory policy; 12 (2) continue support of the Joint Pipeline Office, which administers an 13 innovative, efficient, and cost-effective permitting system; and 14 (3) meet with all parties to determine how the state can help facilitate the ANS 15 gas transmission pipeline; and be it 16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature offers its assistance to the 17 parties involved in order to speed completion of an ANS gas transmission project. 18 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 19 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 20 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Ted 21 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 22 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; to John Snow, Chairman 23 and Chief Executive Officer, CSX Corp.; to Jeff Lowenfels, President, Yukon Pacific 24 Corporation; to Mike Bowlin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Richfield 25 Company, and J. K. "Ken" Thompson, President, ARCO Alaska, Inc.; to John Browne, 26 Chairman, British Petroleum, and John Morgan, President, B.P. Exploration (Alaska), Inc.; 27 to Lee R. Raymond, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exxon Corporation, and Jim 28 Branch, Alaska Production Manager, Exxon Alaska; to Shigenobu Yamamoto, Consul General 29 of Japan, to Young Sik Kim, Consul General of the Republic of Korea, and to Jyhyuan Lo, 30 Director General of the Republic of China.