CSHJR 54(O&G): 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.
00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 54(O&G) 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 at least 26,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas reserves 08 in the Prudhoe Bay field and perhaps two to three times that amount of potential natural gas 09 reserves; and 10 WHEREAS, beginning in the period 2002 - 2005, there may be an increasing gap 11 between supply and demand for natural gas in the Pacific Rim; and 12 WHEREAS market and economic studies indicate favorable conditions for the sale of 13 liquefied natural gas (LNG) to these Pacific Rim markets; and 14 WHEREAS major permits for one possible pipeline route from the North Slope to
01 Valdez have been completed; and 02 WHEREAS the sale of Alaska gas to Pacific Rim markets will improve the nation's 03 trade imbalance without adversely affecting other industries or labor; and 04 WHEREAS the design, sourcing, and construction of a LNG project could infuse several 05 billion dollars into the United States economy; and 06 WHEREAS the construction of such a pipeline would provide approximately 10,000 07 temporary construction jobs for two years and over 600 permanent private sector jobs in Alaska; 08 and 09 WHEREAS the State of Alaska will earn substantial revenue each year from projected 10 gas sales, which would help fill the state's fiscal gap; and 11 WHEREAS a gas pipeline across Alaska could make available environmentally friendly 12 energy along the pipeline route and encourage development that will increase local employment 13 and local tax revenue; and 14 WHEREAS the Alaska Municipal League's 1996 policy statement includes the following 15 language: "The League, therefore, strongly encourages all potential participants in the project, 16 including the State of Alaska, to immediately convene to develop a unified proposal to present 17 to the Asian LNG buyers so that all Alaskans will directly benefit from this unique opportunity"; 18 and 19 WHEREAS natural gas stored as a cryogenic liquid is an efficient and safe means of 20 transporting large quantities of gas with no significant risk to the public; and 21 WHEREAS securing a market for Alaska North Slope (ANS) gas will be important; 22 there is strong competition for Pacific Rim markets from competing projects in Malaysia, 23 Australia, and other nations; and 24 WHEREAS Alaska faces competition from other projects and must, therefore, move to 25 secure a place in Asian markets; and 26 WHEREAS Taiwanese and South Korean buyers have issued letters of intent to purchase 27 ANS liquefied natural gas from Yukon Pacific Corporation; and 28 WHEREAS Japanese buyers must also commit to buying ANS LNG to make an Alaskan 29 project feasible; 30 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the North 31 Slope natural gas lessees to intensify their efforts to establish satisfactory contractual
01 relationships for transportation and sale of ANS gas to Pacific Rim purchasers as soon as 02 economically possible; and be it 03 FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Alaska respectfully requests the President of 04 the United States to demonstrate national support for an ANS gas transmission project to Asian 05 LNG buyers; and be it 06 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is respectfully requested to 07 (1) assure the Asian LNG buyers that the state will provide continuity and 08 stability in regards to North Slope natural gas supply, tax structure, and regulatory policy; 09 (2) continue support of the Joint Pipeline Office, which administers an 10 innovative, efficient, and cost-effective permitting system; and 11 (3) meet with all parties to determine how the state can help facilitate the ANS 12 gas transmission pipeline; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly supports the 14 construction of an ANS gas transmission pipeline and offers its assistance to the parties involved 15 in order to speed completion of an ANS gas transmission project. 16 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 17 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President of 18 the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Ted 19 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 20 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; the Honorable Tony 21 Knowles, Governor; to John Snow, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CSX Corp.; to Jeff 22 Lowenfels, President, Yukon Pacific Corporation; to Mike Bowlin, Chairman and Chief 23 Executive Officer, Atlantic Richfield Company, and J. K. "Ken" Thompson, President, ARCO 24 Alaska, Inc.; to John Browne, Chief Executive Officer, British Petroleum, and John Morgan, 25 President, B.P. Exploration (Alaska), Inc.; to Lee R. Raymond, Chairman and Chief Executive 26 Officer, Exxon Corporation, and Jim Branch, Alaska Production Manager, Exxon Alaska; to 27 Shigenobu Yamamoto, Consul General of Japan; to Byuung Hak Min, Consul General of the 28 Republic of Korea; and to Jyhyuan Lo, Director General of the Republic of China.