CSHJR 11(O&G): Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and production.
00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11(O&G) 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain 02 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, 03 development, and production. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, in sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 06 (ANILCA), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further oil and gas 07 exploration, development, and production within the coastal plain of the Arctic National 08 Wildlife Refuge, Alaska; and 09 WHEREAS the oil industry, the state, and the United States Department of the Interior 10 consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential for discovery of very large oil and gas 11 accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as 10,000,000,000 12 barrels of recoverable oil; and 13 WHEREAS the residents of the North Slope Borough, within which the coastal plain 14 is located, are supportive of development in the "1002 study area"; and
01 WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the refuge 02 and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's future need 03 for imported oil, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and significantly increase the nation's 04 security; and 05 WHEREAS domestic demand for oil continues to rise while domestic crude 06 production continues to fall with the result that the United States imports additional oil from 07 foreign sources; and 08 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 09 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 10 creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a positive effect in all 50 states; 11 and 12 WHEREAS Prudhoe Bay production is declining by approximately 10 percent a year; 13 and 14 WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska, such as 15 Alpine, Badami, and West Sak, may slow or temporarily stop the decline in production, only 16 giant coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasing the production volume 17 of Alaska oil to a significant degree; and 18 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now 19 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national 20 security review; and 21 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry and related state employment have been severely 22 affected by reduced oil and gas activity, and the reduction in industry investment and 23 employment has broad implications for the state's work force and the entire state economy; 24 and 25 WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge comprises only eight percent 26 of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves in the refuge's 27 coastal plain would affect an area of only 2,000 to 7,000 acres, which is less than one-half of 28 one percent of the area of the coastal plain; and 29 WHEREAS 8,000,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 30 aside as wilderness; and 31 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations
01 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it can safely conduct oil and gas activity without adversely 02 affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and 03 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 04 practices in the new field developments at Alpine and North Star, and those techniques are 05 directly applicable to operating on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental 06 protection beyond traditionally high standards; 07 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United 08 States is urged to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife 09 Refuge, Alaska, to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; and be it 10 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral 11 reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the 12 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting 13 less than the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from federal land in Alaska that 14 was promised to the state at statehood; and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that that activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 16 environment and uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible. 17 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 18 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and president 19 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable 20 Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Trent Lott, 21 Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank 22 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 23 the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to all other members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. 24 House of Representatives serving in the 106th United States Congress.