HJR 19: Relating to the ultra low sulfur diesel fuel requirements of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and their application to Alaska.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 19 01 Relating to the ultra low sulfur diesel fuel requirements of the United States 02 Environmental Protection Agency and their application to Alaska. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that, in 05 order to reduce emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide from large trucks and buses 06 into the air, which causes environmental and health problems in parts of the country, ultra low 07 sulfur diesel fuels having a sulfur content of not more than 15 parts per million must be used 08 nationwide for road vehicles; and 09 WHEREAS rural Alaska depends on diesel fuel for its electrical power generation; 10 and 11 WHEREAS ultra low sulfur diesel fuel costs more to produce and is less efficient, 12 resulting in an overall higher cost to produce the same output as the high sulfur fuel currently 13 in use; and 14 WHEREAS northern Alaska temperatures are colder than most areas of the United 15 States, and fuel additives that create an arctic-grade of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel are 16 necessary to avoid fuel failure; and
01 WHEREAS arctic-grade ultra low sulfur diesel fuel is currently manufactured only in 02 Alberta, Canada, and must be imported into the state, increasing fuel transportation costs; and 03 WHEREAS diesel fuel constitutes only a small part of the fuel refined in Alaska, and 04 to modify Alaska refineries to produce low sulfur diesel fuel would be prohibitively 05 expensive; and 06 WHEREAS ultra low sulfur diesel fuel may not be transported or stored in the same 07 tanks used for high sulfur diesel fuel unless the tanks have been cleaned; and 08 WHEREAS the necessary separation of fuel types will make it more expensive to 09 transport more than one type of fuel to rural Alaska; and 10 WHEREAS the necessary separation of fuel types will create storage problems in 11 rural Alaska and will make it prohibitively expensive for communities to import more than 12 one type of fuel; and 13 WHEREAS electric utilities that serve rural communities estimate that electric costs 14 will increase 25 to 33 percent based on the lower efficiency and higher cost of producing, 15 transporting, storing, and using arctic-grade ultra low sulfur diesel fuel; and 16 WHEREAS the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has 17 recommended applying the national plan proposed by the United States Environmental 18 Protection Agency for ultra low sulfur diesel fuel requirements to all road communities and 19 major communities on the Alaska marine highway system by September 2006, despite the 20 fact that many of these communities are small and rural and have few heavy-duty diesel 21 trucks and buses; and 22 WHEREAS, by June 2003, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation 23 must submit a plan for applying the United States Environmental Protection Agency standards 24 for the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel in rural Alaska communities; 25 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state's delegation in 26 the United States Congress to request the United States Environmental Protection Agency to 27 provide funding to investigate and examine the fiscal and logistical effects of arctic-grade 28 ultra low sulfur diesel fuel on the current energy and transportation infrastructure in Alaska; 29 and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state's 31 delegation in the United States Congress to request the Denali Commission to coordinate with
01 the United States Environmental Protection Agency to determine the fiscal and logistical 02 effects on the state of using arctic-grade ultra low sulfur diesel fuel in Alaska and to consider 03 those effects when reviewing fuel storage tank plans for possible funding; and be it 04 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 05 direct the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to coordinate with the United 06 States Environmental Protection Agency and the Denali Commission to determine the fiscal 07 and logistical effects on the state of using arctic-grade ultra low sulfur diesel fuel in Alaska; 08 and be it 09 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 10 direct the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to provide, in its plan for the 11 application of the United States Environmental Protection Agency standards, that rural Alaska 12 have as much flexibility as possible in the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 14 direct the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to reexamine how the United 15 States Environmental Protection Agency standards for the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel 16 are applied to the state's plan for off-road communities. 17 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Christine Todd Whitman, 18 Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and 19 the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 20 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.