HCR 4 am: Requesting the governor to provide energy security for Alaskans by taking and encouraging all appropriate action to support development of a natural gas bullet pipeline from the North Slope to the Cook Inlet region including advocating an increase in the amount of natural gas that may be exported under authority granted by the United States Department of Energy.
00 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 4 am 01 Requesting the governor to provide energy security for Alaskans by taking and 02 encouraging all appropriate action to support development of a natural gas bullet 03 pipeline from the North Slope to the Cook Inlet region including advocating an increase 04 in the amount of natural gas that may be exported under authority granted by the 05 United States Department of Energy. 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS natural gas production in the Cook Inlet region of the state has suffered 08 significant decline, resulting in the closure of the Agrium U.S., Inc., facility in Kenai and the 09 risk of inadequate supplies of natural gas to consumers that rely on production from the Cook 10 Inlet region; and 11 WHEREAS there are significant quantities of natural gas on the North Slope that 12 could be produced if means for delivering the product to market were available; and 13 WHEREAS the major gas pipeline project licensed by the state under AS 43.90 14 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) or a similar alternative project that offers five natural gas 15 delivery points in the state is not expected to transport natural gas from the North Slope until
01 after 2016; and 02 WHEREAS the people of the state need energy security and access to natural gas now 03 and cannot wait for the completion of the major gas pipeline project from the North Slope; 04 and 05 WHEREAS the demand for natural gas in the state is expected to increase steadily; 06 and 07 WHEREAS the construction of a smaller gas pipeline, sometimes referred to as a 08 "bullet line," may be capable of delivering the state's natural gas to in-state markets before the 09 major gas pipeline project from the North Slope becomes operational; and 10 WHEREAS the United States Department of Energy authorized ConocoPhillips 11 Alaska Natural Gas Corporation and Marathon Oil Company to export from the Kenai 12 liquefied natural gas export facility near Kenai up to 99,000,000,000,000 British thermal units 13 of liquefied natural gas, the equivalent of 98,100,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas, during the 14 two-year period beginning on April 1, 2009, and extending through March 31, 2011; and 15 WHEREAS the Kenai liquefied natural gas export facility may close after 2011 if the 16 authority to export liquefied natural gas is not extended; and 17 WHEREAS, if no new natural gas is discovered in the Cook Inlet region, the demand 18 for natural gas in the Southcentral part of the state will exceed production from the Cook Inlet 19 region; and 20 WHEREAS the collective demand of the Interior and Southcentral natural gas 21 markets in the state is anticipated to expand from 200,000,000 cubic feet a day to 22 approximately 700,000,000 cubic feet a day during the period 2010 to 2025; and 23 WHEREAS an inadequate supply of natural gas to the Interior and Southcentral 24 regions of the state will increase substantially the cost of energy, decrease economic 25 opportunity for the people of the state, decrease the ability of consumers to switch from liquid 26 fossil fuels to less expensive and cleaner burning natural gas, and prevent or hinder the 27 Interior and other regions in the state from complying with the fine particle air quality 28 standard commonly known as PM 2.5 imposed by the United States Environmental Protection 29 Agency under 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q (Clean Air Act); and 30 WHEREAS increasing the authorized amount of natural gas that may be exported 31 from the Cook Inlet region that is transported from the North Slope in a natural gas bullet
01 pipeline improves the economic viability of the instate pipeline by increasing the volume of 02 gas transported in that pipeline above the amount that would otherwise by used by industrial 03 and consumer customers in the state; 04 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests the governor to 05 provide energy security for all Alaskans by taking and encouraging all appropriate action 06 necessary, after thoughtful consideration, to promote and support a natural gas bullet pipeline 07 for delivering natural gas from the North Slope to the Cook Inlet region of the state, including 08 advocating an increase in the volume of gas that may be exported under license issued by the 09 United States Department of Energy to 60,000,000,000 cubic feet a year with the increase in 10 authorized volume to be supplied by natural gas produced on the North Slope; and be it 11 FURTHER RESOLVED that the action must honor the state's obligations under the 12 current Alaska Gasline Inducement Act license, and provide as feasible for gas delivery and 13 use, off the road system.