SR 5: Opposing the recent decisions of the Obama Administration to cancel future lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas; urging the United States Department of the Interior to continue including the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea lease sales in the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program; and urging the Obama Administration to support ongoing efforts to develop offshore oil and gas in the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf responsibly and to acknowledge the support of Alaskans.
00 SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 5 01 Opposing the recent decisions of the Obama Administration to cancel future lease sales 02 in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas; urging the United States Department of the Interior 03 to continue including the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea lease sales in the 2017-2022 04 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program; and urging the Obama 05 Administration to support ongoing efforts to develop offshore oil and gas in the Arctic 06 Outer Continental Shelf responsibly and to acknowledge the support of Alaskans. 07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE: 08 WHEREAS the official Arctic policy of the state, passed by the Twenty-Ninth Alaska 09 State Legislature, states that "It is the policy of the state, as it relates to the Arctic, to uphold 10 the state's commitment to economically vibrant communities sustained by development 11 activities consistent with the state's responsibility for a healthy environment"; and 12 WHEREAS the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission advises the state in its list of 13 strategic recommendations to "promote prudent oil and gas exploration and development in 14 the Arctic"; and
01 WHEREAS the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates that 02 there are 23,000,000,000 barrels and 104,410,000,000,000 cubic feet of undiscovered, 03 technically recoverable oil and natural gas in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas; and 04 WHEREAS hundreds of exploration and development wells have been safely and 05 responsibly drilled in state and federal water off the coast of the state, including in the 06 Chukchi and Beaufort seas; and 07 WHEREAS the economic future of the state and the energy security and strategic 08 global position of the nation stand to benefit greatly from development of the state's outer 09 continental shelf; and 10 WHEREAS the state has a rich history of developing its resources in a sustainable 11 and responsible manner; and 12 WHEREAS development of the state's outer continental shelf is a well-understood 13 undertaking, and Alaskans have the benefit of over half a century's experience in managing 14 Arctic development; and 15 WHEREAS the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, a national strategic infrastructure 16 asset, is running at one-quarter of throughput capacity and would benefit from additional 17 future oil supply; and 18 WHEREAS Alaskans, including those living closest to the resource on the North 19 Slope, benefit from outer continental shelf exploration through direct employment, business 20 opportunities, and government revenue; and 21 WHEREAS there are many synergies between the types of infrastructure that would 22 facilitate Arctic oil and gas exploration and development and the infrastructure needs of local 23 communities, the state, and elements of the United States Coast Guard and Navy; and 24 WHEREAS, in January of 2015, the United States Department of the Interior 25 published a draft 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program that 26 proposed one lease sale each in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea Planning Areas; and 27 WHEREAS the federal government has limited immediate opportunities in several 28 areas in the Arctic, including, most importantly, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the 29 National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska, and the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf; and 30 WHEREAS, on October 16, 2015, the United States Department of the Interior 31 cancelled future outer continental shelf oil and gas lease sales in the Chukchi Sea Planning
01 Area and Beaufort Sea Planning Area, scheduled for 2016 and 2017, respectively; 02 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska Senate opposes the recent decisions of the 03 Obama Administration to cancel future lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas; and be it 04 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska Senate urges the United States Department 05 of the Interior to continue including the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea lease sales in the 2017- 06 2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska Senate urges the Obama Administration to 08 support ongoing efforts to develop offshore oil and gas in the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf 09 responsibly and to acknowledge the support of Alaskans. 10 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 11 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice President of the United States and 12 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Sally Jewell, United States Secretary of the 13 Interior; Brian Salerno, Director, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement; and the 14 Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the 15 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.