Enrolled HJR 34: Supporting oil and gas leasing and development within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
00Enrolled HJR 34 01 Supporting oil and gas leasing and development within the National Petroleum Reserve in 02 Alaska. 03 _______________ 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, in 1923, President Warren G. Harding issued an Executive Order 06 establishing Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 on the North Slope region to provide a potential 07 supply of oil for the United States Navy; and 08 WHEREAS 42 U.S.C. 6501 (Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976) 09 redesignated Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska 10 and transferred responsibility for its administration to the Secretary of the Interior; and 11 WHEREAS the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska encompasses 23,500,000 12 acres, with boundaries extending south from Icy Cape to the drainage divide of the Brooks 13 Range, then following the divide eastward to 156 degrees west longitude, then north to the 14 Colville River, and following the Colville River downstream to its mouth; and 15 WHEREAS the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska falls entirely within the 16 boundary of the North Slope Borough and includes the communities of Atqasuk, Nuiqsut, 17 Utqiagvik, and Wainwright; and
01 WHEREAS, in 2017, the United States Geological Survey estimated there to be 02 8,700,000,000 barrels of recoverable oil and 25,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of recoverable gas 03 reserves in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; and 04 WHEREAS the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan 05 and Environmental Impact Statement estimates potential annual government revenue, 06 including local, state, and federal taxes and royalties, of $730,000,000 to $4,750,000,000 from 07 oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; and 08 WHEREAS the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan 09 and Environmental Impact Statement estimates that the exploration, development, and 10 production of oil and gas in the reserve could generate 3,600 direct jobs and 2,750 indirect 11 jobs annually over a period of 30 years; and 12 WHEREAS state royalties from oil and gas development in the National Petroleum 13 Reserve in Alaska are allocated to the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Impact 14 Mitigation Fund, which is used to provide the local communities of Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, 15 Nuiqsut, Wainwright, Utqiagvik, and the North Slope Borough with grants to mitigate 16 impacts related to oil and gas development; and 17 WHEREAS, in January of 2022, the Department of the Interior took action that would 18 effectively revert management of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to the 2013 19 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan, removing 7,000,000 acres of 20 the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska from potential oil and gas development; and 21 WHEREAS the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan 22 was developed in partnership with the North Slope Borough and in consultation with North 23 Slope tribes and Alaska Native corporations and it included provisions that would have 24 ensured future economic development opportunities for the North Slope region, allowed for 25 community infrastructure needs to be considered in the National Petroleum Reserve in 26 Alaska, and required that areas identified by local and Alaska Native entities be excluded 27 from future leasing; and 28 WHEREAS the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, the Inupiat Community of the 29 Arctic Slope, and the North Slope Borough are all united in opposition to the Department of 30 the Interior's reversion from the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated 31 Activity Plan to the 2013 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan and
01 have expressed concern that this reversion diminishes Alaska Native self-determination by 02 ignoring the needs, concerns, and input of the local people who live, work, and subsist in and 03 around the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; and 04 WHEREAS oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska has 05 the potential to extend the life of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and increase throughput, 06 which has declined from a peak of 2,033,000 average barrels of oil a day in 1988 to 477,800 07 average barrels of oil a day in 2021; and 08 WHEREAS the failure of the Department of the Interior to consult with the Inupiat 09 Community of the Arctic Slope and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation before taking 10 sweeping action violates Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination with Indian 11 Tribal Governments; and 12 WHEREAS oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska 13 would strengthen national security and provide long-lasting benefits to the national economy 14 by creating thousands of jobs nationwide, generating billions of dollars in government 15 revenue, providing affordable energy to American consumers, and decreasing dependence on 16 foreign energy; and 17 WHEREAS safe and responsible oil and gas exploration, development, and 18 production has been demonstrated by over 50 years of activity on the North Slope region 19 without adverse effects on the environment or wildlife populations; 20 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 21 Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, to maximize the area available for 22 oil and gas leasing and development within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska while 23 conserving and protecting valued fish, wildlife, subsistence, and cultural resources; and be it 24 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 25 Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, when considering management 26 activities related to the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, to take into account the long 27 history of safe and responsible oil and gas development on the North Slope region and the 28 enormous benefits that development of oil and gas resources in the National Petroleum 29 Reserve in Alaska would bring to local communities, tribal governments, the state, and the 30 nation. 31 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President
01 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and 02 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the 03 Interior; the Honorable Tracy Stone-Manning, Director, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. 04 Department of the Interior; Thomas Heinlein, Acting Alaska State Director, Bureau of Land 05 Management, U.S. Department of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 06 Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the U.S. Representative for Alaska, members of 07 the Alaska delegation in Congress.