SSSJR 3: Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; relating to oil and gas exploration, development, production, and royalties; and relating to renewable and alternative energy technologies.
00 SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the 02 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, development, and 03 production; relating to oil and gas exploration, development, production, and royalties; 04 and relating to renewable and alternative energy technologies. 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 07 Conservation Act, the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further oil and gas 08 exploration, development, and production within the coastal plain of the Arctic National 09 Wildlife Refuge; and 10 WHEREAS the oil industry, the state, and the United States Department of the 11 Interior consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential for discovery of very large oil 12 and gas accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as 13 10,000,000,000 barrels of recoverable oil; and 14 WHEREAS the "1002 study area" is part of the coastal plain located within the North 15 Slope Borough, and many of the residents of the North Slope Borough, who are
01 predominantly Inupiat Eskimo, are supportive of development in the "1002 study area"; and 02 WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the refuge 03 and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's future need 04 for imported oil, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and significantly increase the nation's 05 security; and 06 WHEREAS the state's and the nation's future energy independence would be 07 enhanced with additional natural gas production from the North Slope of Alaska including 08 what are expected to be significant gas reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and 09 the development of those reserves would enhance the economic viability of the proposed 10 Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline; and 11 WHEREAS domestic demand for oil continues to rise while domestic crude 12 production continues to fall, with the result that the United States imports additional oil from 13 foreign sources; and 14 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 15 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 16 creation as a result of coastal plain oil development will have a positive effect in all 50 states; 17 and 18 WHEREAS North Slope production is declining; and 19 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, a transportation facility that is a 20 national asset and that would cost billions of dollars to replace, would have its useful physical 21 life extended for a substantial period if the additional reserves of recoverable oil from the 22 coastal plain were produced; and 23 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System currently is being extended to leases at 24 Point Thomson, an area bordering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and oil produced in 25 the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would only require the additional construction of a 26 pipeline to Point Thomson to deliver oil to market; and 27 WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska, such as 28 Alpine, Northstar, and West Sak, may temporarily slow the decline in production, only giant 29 coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasing the production volume of 30 Alaska oil to a significant degree; and 31 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now
01 allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national 02 security review; and 03 WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge makes up only eight 04 percent of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves in the 05 refuge's coastal plain would affect an area of only 2,000 to 7,000 acres, which is less than 06 one-half of one percent of the area of the coastal plain; and 07 WHEREAS 8,900,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 08 aside as wilderness; and 09 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations 10 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it is capable of conducting oil and gas activity without 11 adversely affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and 12 WHEREAS the state will strive to ensure the continued health and productivity of the 13 Porcupine Caribou herd and the protection of land, water, and wildlife resources during the 14 exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 15 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry is developing directional drilling technology that 16 will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner by minimizing the development 17 footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and this directional drilling technology 18 may be capable of drilling from outside of the boundaries of the 1002 study area; and 19 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 20 practices in the new field developments at Alpine and Northstar, and those techniques are 21 directly applicable to operating on the coastal plain and would enhance environmental 22 protection beyond traditionally high standards; and 23 WHEREAS the continued competitiveness and stability of the state and its economy 24 require that the Alaska State Legislature consider national trends toward renewable energy 25 development; and 26 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature encourages the use of revenue from 27 development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the development of renewable and 28 alternative energy resources in the state; 29 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 30 Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 31 to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; and be it
01 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges that oil and gas 02 exploration, development, and production activity be conducted in a manner that protects the 03 environment and the naturally occurring population levels of the Porcupine Caribou herd on 04 which the Gwich'in and other local residents depend, that uses directional drilling and other 05 advances in technology to minimize the development footprint in the 1002 study area, and 06 that uses the state's work force to the maximum extent possible; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 08 Congress to pass legislation opening the 1002 study area for oil and gas development while 09 continuing to work on measures for increasing the development and use of renewable and 10 alternative energy technologies; and be it 11 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any unilateral 12 reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the 13 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting 14 less than the 90 percent of the oil, gas, and mineral royalties from the federal land in the state 15 that was promised to the state at statehood. 16 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 17 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 18 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the 19 Interior; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 20 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 21 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, 22 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ron Wyden, Chair of the Energy and 23 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 24 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 25 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 113th United 26 States Congress.