SJR 11: Urging the United States Congress to enact a Jones Act waiver to facilitate transportation of domestic liquefied natural gas between ports in the state.
00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11 01 Urging the United States Congress to enact a Jones Act waiver to facilitate 02 transportation of domestic liquefied natural gas between ports in the state. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS natural gas production in the state primarily comes from two regions: 05 Cook Inlet and the North Slope; and 06 WHEREAS, in 2024, 39 percent of the electricity generated in the state was from 07 natural gas, and nearly half of households in the state use natural gas to heat their homes; and 08 WHEREAS the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has projected shortfalls in 09 the Cook Inlet natural gas supply beginning in 2027, and the Southcentral region of the state 10 is facing a significant natural gas shortage despite exploration efforts by operators; and 11 WHEREAS Cook Inlet is an aging oil and gas field that is expected to be depleted by 12 the mid-2030s, requiring significant investment for further production; and 13 WHEREAS, in February 2024, Anchorage switched much of its electricity generation 14 from natural gas to significantly more expensive diesel and faced the possibility of natural gas 15 curtailments resulting from high demand for natural gas outstripping supply; and 16 WHEREAS Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is heavily dependent on natural gas
01 from Cook Inlet, causing national security to be affected by the natural gas shortage; and 02 WHEREAS Fort Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, Fort Greely, and Clear Space 03 Force Station benefit from electricity produced by natural gas in the Southcentral region of 04 the state; and 05 WHEREAS the utility companies in the Southcentral region of the state are 06 considering liquefied natural gas imports in the near future to solve the crisis; and 07 WHEREAS the natural gas supply within the North Slope is approximately 08 35,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves and 200,000,000,000,000 cubic 09 feet of potential natural gas resources that could lead to long-term viability of selling North 10 Slope natural gas resources on a commercial scale; and 11 WHEREAS a natural gas liquefaction plant is already being constructed on the North 12 Slope for trucking natural gas to the Interior region of the state; and 13 WHEREAS trucking natural gas from the North Slope to the Southcentral region of 14 the state is uneconomical in the quantities needed; and 15 WHEREAS the construction of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope natural 16 gas fields would bring natural gas to both the Interior and Southcentral regions of the state, 17 providing both energy stability and lower costs; and 18 WHEREAS the economic costs of a natural gas pipeline have delayed construction 19 for almost five decades, and construction of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to the 20 Southcentral region of the state would not be completed until at least 2031, long after 21 shortfalls are predicted to begin in 2027; and 22 WHEREAS 46 U.S.C. 55102, originally enacted by the Merchant Marine Act of 23 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, mandates that any vessel transporting cargo 24 between United States ports be built in the United States, owned by United States citizens, 25 and crewed mostly by United States citizens; and 26 WHEREAS, currently, there are no Jones Act-compliant natural gas tanker vessels 27 available to transport natural gas between ports in the state; and 28 WHEREAS the Jones Act limits domestic imports of critical goods like liquefied 29 natural gas between domestic ports, prohibiting the state from transporting its own natural gas 30 from the gas fields on the North Slope to the largest population centers of the Southcentral 31 region of the state; and
01 WHEREAS the United States is the largest liquefied natural gas exporter in the 02 world, but the state is effectively prohibited from transporting domestic liquefied natural gas 03 to the state from other ports in the United States because of the Jones Act; and 04 WHEREAS waivers to the Jones Act were granted for transportation of natural gas 05 and petroleum following hurricanes in 2005, 2012, and 2017; and 06 WHEREAS, in 2006, a waiver to the Jones Act was granted to tow a jack-up oil 07 drilling rig from the Gulf of Mexico to the state for drilling in the Cook Inlet; and 08 WHEREAS shipping liquefied natural gas in small containers could lower energy 09 costs for many of the state's coastal communities that are currently shipping in expensive 10 diesel for electricity generation and other energy needs; and 11 WHEREAS the sustainable development of the state's rich energy resources will 12 contribute to domestic energy security and economic prosperity, both in the state and 13 throughout the United States; 14 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the United 15 States Congress to recognize the imminent and acute need to stabilize the state's energy 16 supply and enact a Jones Act waiver that facilitates the urgent transportation of domestic 17 liquefied natural gas between ports in the state until Jones Act-compliant vessels are 18 available. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President 20 of the United States; the Honorable JD Vance, Vice President of the United States and 21 President of the Senate, the Honorable Sean Duffy, United States Secretary of Transportation; 22 and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the 23 Honorable Nicholas Begich, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in 24 Congress.