SCS CSHCR 3(JUD): Urging the governor and the attorney general to pursue all legal and legislative options to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and areas of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; and urging the governor and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee to work with the United States Congress to enact measures necessary to prevent President Barack Obama and federal agencies from implementing regulations that place landscape characteristic restrictions on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that are equivalent to the restrictions placed on land given a wilderness designation.
00 SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 3(JUD) 01 Urging the governor and the attorney general to pursue all legal and legislative options 02 to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and areas of the Chukchi 03 and Beaufort Seas to oil and gas exploration, development, and production; and urging 04 the governor and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee to work with the United 05 States Congress to enact measures necessary to prevent President Barack Obama and 06 federal agencies from implementing regulations that place landscape characteristic 07 restrictions on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that are equivalent to the restrictions 08 placed on land given a wilderness designation. 09 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 10 WHEREAS the state is experiencing steep declines in revenue from oil and gas 11 production taxes and royalties on the North Slope as a result of decreasing oil production and 12 plummeting oil prices; and 13 WHEREAS 16 U.S.C. 3143 (sec. 1003 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 14 Conservation Act) prohibits oil and gas production as well as leasing or other development
01 leading to production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge until the 02 activity is authorized by an Act of Congress; and 03 WHEREAS, on January 25, 2015, President Barack Obama announced his intention 04 to ask the United States Congress to designate the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife 05 Refuge and other core areas of the refuge as wilderness, the highest level of protection that 06 would prohibit oil and gas development in the refuge; and 07 WHEREAS, on January 25, 2015, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 08 released its Revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Final Environmental Impact 09 Statement for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which provides for the continued 10 prohibition of oil and gas leasing, drilling, and extraction of oil and gas for commercial 11 purposes, including all associated above and below ground facilities; and 12 WHEREAS President Barack Obama and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 13 express the intention not only to block oil and gas exploration and development on the coastal 14 plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but also to permanently block any future oil and 15 gas exploration and development in that area by asking the United States Congress to 16 designate the coastal plain as wilderness by an Act of Congress; and 17 WHEREAS, on January 27, 2015, President Barack Obama signed a presidential 18 memorandum providing for the withdrawal from disposition by leasing for a time period 19 without specific expiration of (1) the areas of the Outer Continental Shelf currently designated 20 by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as leasing deferral areas within the Chukchi Sea 21 Planning Area and the Beaufort Sea Planning Area in the five-year oil and gas leasing 22 program for 2012-2017; and (2) the Hanna Shoal region of the Chukchi Sea Planning Area 23 lying within the contours of the 40-meter isobath; and 24 WHEREAS the withdrawal from disposition by leasing prevents consideration of 25 those areas for any future oil or gas leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or 26 production; and 27 WHEREAS sec. 6(i) of the Alaska Statehood Act (P.L. 85-508) recognizes the critical 28 importance of revenue from natural resource development to the economic viability of the 29 state by including all mineral deposits in land conveyed to the state and requiring the state to 30 reserve its right in mineral deposits in all land received from the federal government; and 31 WHEREAS 30 U.S.C. 191 requires that 90 percent of the money received from sales,
01 bonuses, and royalties, including interest charges collected under 30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. 02 (Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982), be paid to the state for disposition 03 by the legislature; and 04 WHEREAS the leasing of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for 05 oil and gas development would provide a source of funds for the costs of providing state 06 services to the people of the state; and 07 WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 08 Conservation Act), the United States Congress authorized non-drilling exploratory activity 09 within the coastal plain of the Arctic National 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 16 predominantly Inupiat, are supportive of development in the "1002 study area"; and 17 WHEREAS the state recognizes and respects the right of Native landowners in and 18 adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 study area, including the rights of the 19 Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation to develop their land 20 and resources entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and other 21 agreements; and 22 WHEREAS oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain of the 23 refuge, of adjacent land, and in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas could result in major 24 discoveries that would reduce our nation's dependency on oil produced by hostile foreign 25 nations, help balance the nation's trade deficit, and significantly increase the nation's security; 26 and 27 WHEREAS the state's and the nation's future energy independence would be 28 enhanced with additional natural gas production from the North Slope of Alaska, including 29 what are expected to be significant gas reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and 30 the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and the development of those reserves would enhance the 31 economic viability of the proposed Alaska liquefied gas project; and
01 WHEREAS domestic demand for energy continues to rise, and a reliable and secure 02 source of domestic oil and gas ensures ongoing economic security for the state and the nation; 03 and 04 WHEREAS development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, Lisburne, and 05 Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job 06 creation as a result of oil and gas development on the coastal plain and in the Chukchi and 07 Beaufort Seas will have a positive effect in all 50 states; and 08 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, a national asset that would cost 09 billions of dollars to replace, would have its useful operating life extended for a substantial 10 period if the additional reserves of recoverable oil from the coastal plain and Chukchi and 11 Beaufort Seas were produced; and 12 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System is currently being extended to leases at 13 Point Thomson, an area bordering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and oil produced in 14 the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would require only the additional construction of a 15 pipeline to Point Thomson to deliver oil to market; and 16 WHEREAS opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and 17 allowing leasing and exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas would permit sufficient 18 time for planning environmental safeguards, development, and national security review; and 19 WHEREAS the 1,500,000-acre coastal plain of the refuge makes up less than eight 20 percent of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, and development of the oil and gas reserves in the 21 refuge's coastal plain would affect a limited area as defined by the United States Congress; 22 and 23 WHEREAS 8,900,000 of the 19,000,000 acres of the refuge have already been set 24 aside as wilderness; and 25 WHEREAS the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations 26 along the Arctic coastal plain, that it is capable of conducting oil and gas activity without 27 adversely affecting the environment or wildlife populations; and 28 WHEREAS the oil and gas industry has developed directional drilling technology that 29 will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner by minimizing the development 30 footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and that directional drilling technology 31 is capable of drilling from outside of the boundaries of the 1002 study area; and
01 WHEREAS the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental 02 practices in new field developments, and those techniques are directly applicable to operating 03 on the coastal plain and in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and would enhance environmental 04 protection beyond traditionally high standards; and 05 WHEREAS the state recognizes that the economic prosperity of the state and nation 06 is dependent on available, reliable, and affordable energy; 07 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor to work with 08 the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National 09 Wildlife Refuge and the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to oil and gas exploration, development, 10 and production; and be it 11 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor and the 12 Legislative Budget and Audit Committee to work with the United States Congress to enact 13 measures necessary to prevent President Barack Obama, the United States Fish and Wildlife 14 Service, the Department of the Interior, and other federal agencies from implementing 15 regulations that place landscape characteristic restrictions on the Arctic National Wildlife 16 Refuge that are equivalent to the restrictions placed on land given a wilderness designation; 17 and be it 18 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor and the 19 attorney general to take all legal action necessary to prevent President Barack Obama, the 20 United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Department of the Interior, and 21 other federal agencies from unlawfully blocking oil and gas leasing, exploration, and 22 development on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the Chukchi 23 and Beaufort Seas.