SJR 7: Requesting that the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management implement an oil and gas leasing program in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7 01 Requesting that the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land 02 Management implement an oil and gas leasing program in the coastal plain of the Arctic 03 National Wildlife Refuge. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3143 (sec. 1003 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 06 Conservation Act), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit oil and gas 07 development and production in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 08 WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 09 Conservation Act), the United States Congress authorized nondrilling exploratory activity in 10 the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and 11 WHEREAS sec. 20001 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-97) requires 12 the United States Secretary of the Interior to establish and administer a competitive oil and 13 gas program for the leasing, development, and production of oil and gas in and the 14 transportation of oil and gas from the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; 15 and
01 WHEREAS sec. 20001 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-97) requires 02 that at least two lease sales be held by December 22, 2024, and that each sale offer for lease at 03 least 400,000 acres of land with the highest hydrocarbon potential in the coastal plain of the 04 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, allowing for up to 2,000 acres of federal land which is 05 equivalent to .01 percent of the 19,300,000-acre refuge, to be covered by production and 06 support facilities; and 07 WHEREAS the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains an 08 estimated 7,687,000,000 barrels of recoverable oil and 7,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of 09 natural gas; and 10 WHEREAS the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas in the coastal 11 plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is predicted to generate 1,430 direct jobs and 12 6,350 indirect jobs annually and 2,480 direct jobs and 10,100 indirect jobs at peak 13 employment; and 14 WHEREAS the estimated potential government revenue from petroleum development 15 in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge through 2050, including revenue to 16 the North Slope Borough, the state, and the federal government from royalties, income taxes, 17 production taxes, and property taxes, equals $104,673,000,000; and 18 WHEREAS oil and gas development in the coastal plain of the Arctic National 19 Wildlife Refuge has the potential to extend the life of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and 20 increase throughput, which has declined from a peak of 2,033,000 average barrels of oil a day 21 in 1988 to 509,000 average barrels of oil a day in 2018; and 22 WHEREAS oil and gas development in the coastal plain of the Arctic National 23 Wildlife Refuge has the potential to enhance the economic viability of the proposed Alaska 24 liquefied natural gas project; and 25 WHEREAS oil and gas development on the coastal plain would strengthen national 26 security and provide long-lasting benefits to the national economy by creating thousands of 27 jobs nationwide, generating billions of dollars in government revenue, providing affordable 28 energy to American consumers, and decreasing dependence on foreign energy; and 29 WHEREAS advances in extended-reach and directional drilling technology have 30 greatly reduced the impact area of oil and gas activities, including shrinking the average 31 drilling pad size by more than 80 percent, from 65 acres in 1970 to 12 acres today, and
01 increasing the subsurface area accessible from modern drilling pads by nearly 2,000 percent, 02 from three square miles in 1970 to 60 square miles today; and 03 WHEREAS safe and responsible oil and gas exploration, development, and 04 production has been demonstrated by over 50 years of activity on the North Slope of Alaska 05 without adverse effects on the environment or wildlife populations; and 06 WHEREAS the state continues to strive to ensure the ongoing health and productivity 07 of the Porcupine and Central Arctic caribou herds and the protection of land, water, and 08 wildlife resources during the exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic 09 National Wildlife Refuge; and 10 WHEREAS polling consistently shows Alaskans overwhelmingly support responsible 11 oil and gas development in the non-wilderness portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; 12 and 13 WHEREAS the proposed leasing area of the coastal plain of the Arctic National 14 Wildlife Refuge is located in the North Slope Borough, and many residents of the borough, 15 the population of which is predominantly Inupiat, are supportive of development in the non- 16 wilderness area of the coastal plain; 17 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the United States 18 Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, implement an oil and gas leasing 19 program in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as outlined in the 20 December 2018 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Draft Environmental Impact 21 Statement; and be it 22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the United 23 States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, in its consideration of action 24 alternatives outlined in the December 2018 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Draft 25 Environmental Impact Statement, take into account the long history of safe and responsible 26 oil and gas development on Alaska's North Slope, the enormous benefits development of oil 27 and gas resources in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would bring to 28 the state and the nation, the advances in oilfield technology that continue to shrink the impact 29 area of oil and gas activities, and the support of residents from the North Slope Borough and 30 across the North Slope of Alaska for oil and gas development in a portion of the coastal plain. 31 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President
01 of the United States; and the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States 02 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable David Bernhardt, Acting United States 03 Secretary of the Interior; Brian Steed, Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, Bureau of 04 Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior; and Nicole Hayes, Coastal Plain Project 05 Manager, Bureau of Land Management Alaska State Office, U.S. Department of the Interior.