Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
03/08/2021 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Overview(s): Dept. of Environmental Conservation by Commissioner Jason Brune | |
| HJR12 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | HJR 12 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HJR 12-ENDORSING ANWR LEASING; RELATED ISSUES
2:10:00 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced that the final order of business would
be HJR 12 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12, "Urging the United
States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, to
honor the recent lease sales and proceed with permitting in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; urging the President of the
United States to defend the 2020 Record of Decision approving
the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge; opposing designation of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge as a National Monument; and urging the
Alaska delegation in Congress to uphold sec. 20001 of the Tax
Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017."
2:10:40 PM
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER, as prime sponsor of HJR 12, explained
the resolution requests continuation of the oil and gas
development program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR) that was recently put on hold. When the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was signed into law in
1980, he said, Congress itself reserved the right to permit oil
and gas development and production on the Coastal Plain ["1002
Area"] of the refuge. Within days of the first lease sale in
January 2021 President Biden placed the entire leasing and
development program on hold, and HJR 12 urges a reversal of that
action.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER related that the resolution implores the
U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to
honor the recent Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program and
to proceed with permitting in the 1002 Area of the refuge. The
resolution also asks President Biden's administration to defend
the BLM's 2020 Record of Decision approving the Coastal Plain
oil and gas leasing. The resolution asks that when BLM is
considering and taking action on the leasing program that it
take into account the long history of safe and responsible oil
and gas development on the North Slope, as well as the enormous
benefits that the development in the refuge could bring to North
Slope residents, the state of Alaska, and the nation.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER said HJR 12 also states that the Alaska
State Legislature opposes any effort to employ the Antiquities
Act to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a
national monument. It implores President Biden to take an
approach of consultation and engagement in these decisions that
affect the state, local communities, Alaska Native tribes and
entities, and residents. The resolution urges President Biden
to immediately rescind the provisions of Executive Order 13990
pertaining to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER noted that while the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge isn't in his district, he worked on the
resolution's language with Chair Patkotak whose district does
include the refuge and the North Slope. He stressed that he
believes this is a state's rights issue as well as a jobs issue.
Development within the refuge could create tens of thousands of
jobs across the country and thousands of jobs within Alaska.
2:15:02 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK opened invited testimony.
2:15:17 PM
KARA MORIARTY, President and CEO, Alaska Oil and Gas Association
(AOGA), testified in support of HJR 12. She paraphrased from
the following written statement [original punctuation provided]:
AOGA is the professional trade association for the
industry and we appreciate the opportunity to testify
today on House Joint Resolution 12 (HJR12). This
resolution provides specific recommendations that
honors the commitment of ANILCA and the will of the
majority of Alaskans who support the safe development
of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR).
The sponsor did a very nice job summarizing the
specific actions that need to continue to occur to
keeping ANWR as a viable option for long-term
development of our oil and gas resources.
The Arctic National Refuge was expanded from 9 million
acres to over 19 million acres with the passage of
ANILCA in 1980, with over 90 [percent] of the region
permanently protected as wilderness. However, section
1002 of ANILCA specifically states that a small
portion of the Coastal Plain would be set aside for
future oil and gas development. There was always the
intent that oil and gas could occur one day. It was
part of one of the many compromises of ANILCA.
The Tax Act of 2017, referenced in HJR12, does limit
development to 2,000 acres. To give you perspective,
the Dulles International Airport in DC is 12,000
acres, and right here in Alaska, the Ted Stevens
International Airport is just over 4,600 acres.
So, why are even discussing more oil and gas
development down the road? The U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA) predicts that, by 2050, petroleum
and other liquids will continue to supply over 50
[percent] of the energy and fuels in the United
States, and the International Energy Administration
(IEA) has a similar prediction for global demand.
So, if the demand for oil and gas is going to be there
at least 30 years from now, why the Coastal Plain? The
federal government has described the potential 10-11
billion barrels of oil recovery from the 1002 Area as
the most significant oil potential in the United
States. And while market conditions and regulatory
risk that currently exist were the likely causes of
the lack of interest from our members in the 2021
January lease sale, the fact remains that the Coastal
Plain is still the largest onshore play on federal
land in the entire country. And it is a long-term
play. Just because companies did not demonstrate
interest two months ago, does not mean it is not an
important component of energy supply for years to
come.
In fact, in 2018 the EIA estimated that production
from the Coastal Plain, if it were to occur from 2031-
2050, could reduce U.S. expenditures on crude oil and
petroleum products imports by almost $600 billion.
One of the last things I would like to stress, and
would like to stress the most, is that Alaska's oil
and gas industry has a history of safe, effective, and
environmentally responsible development of the Arctic
spanning over five decades. Development today does not
occur the same way as it did 40 years ago. In the
1970's, a typical oil pad would be about 65 acres and
the drilling areas underground would extend about
three miles. Today, the surface area has shrunk to
about 12-14 acres, but with the advancement of
technologies and cutting-edge drilling techniques that
are often pioneered in Alaska, the drilling now
extends to up to 55 miles underground. But, with the
advancement of a brand-new drilling rig owned by
Alaska Native Corporation Doyon, commonly referred to
as "The Beast", Alaska is now home to the largest
extended reach drilling rig in North America. Now,
drilling can expand another 100 miles, for a total of
154 square miles underground while still maintaining
only about a 14-acre gravel pad on the surface.
Eventual development of the Coastal Plain will be
safe, be good for the country, and will continue to
build upon the jobs and revenues the industry has
contributed to the State and the local area for
decades.
2:21:00 PM
TOM WALSH, Past President (2020), Alaska Support Industry
Alliance, testified in support of HJR 12. He paraphrased from
the following written statement [original punctuation provided]:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on
this resolution today on behalf of the Alaska Support
Industry Alliance, an organization of which I am the
immediate Past President. The Alliance is an Alaskan
Trade Organization whose mission is To promote
responsible exploration, development and production of
oil, gas and mineral resources for the benefit of all
Alaskans."
The Alliance has a membership of 500+ businesses and
individuals, who in total employ over 30,000 workers.
Alliance education and advocacy efforts focus on our
mission by providing substantiated, credible and
valuable information for our members, the public, and
decision-makers, such as yourselves. I am honored to
inform you today that the subject resolution is very
much aligned with the Alliance mission and objectives,
and I appreciate this opportunity to outline some of
the significant areas of alignment.
The resolution is comprehensive in its
characterization of the many reasons why exploration
and development of ANWR are important to Alaskans and
the citizens of the United States, and supports the
fact that the activity has been congressionally
authorized, and is supported broadly by Alaskans. In
fact, it is critical to Alaskans, given the declining
oil production and associated revenue stream to the
State. The text of the resolution covers all of the
key areas aligned with the Alliance mission, but it
would require more than my allocated 5 minutes just to
read the text. Therefore, I will summarize a few key
points in my testimony.
Revenue
As we all know, the State of Alaska is extremely
dependent on revenue gained from taxes and royalty on
oil production from our declining asset base. Natural
decline of oil production has been aggressively
mitigated by our industry partners through massive
drilling, enhanced recovery, and deployment of
innovative and evolving technology. The cost of
producing a barrel of oil in Alaska has always been
challenging in comparison to most other hydrocarbon
provinces, although our giant field size has provided
some relief through economies of scale. As our giant
fields decline, and overall production rate
diminishes, those economies of scale no longer apply.
Simply put, we need more oil production to sustain
commercial viability. Successful exploration and
production from ANWR can play a key role in extending
oil throughput to TAPS [Trans-Alaska Pipeline System],
and in supporting Alaska's economic engine.
Energy Independence
The United States has remarkably reached a point of
energy independence, largely based on a resurgence of
oil and gas production in the Lower 48 shale basins.
This energy independence is fragile and may prove to
be fleeting in light of economic and sociopolitical
changes[.] The fact remains that our productivity,
economic health, and prosperity as a nation rely on
affordable energy. There is no doubt that climate
change impacts will require a paradigm shift in our
energy production and consumption, but there is no
light switch to turn on renewable energy. A logical
and structured transition from carbon-based fuels to
carbon-neutral will require a logical and structured
effort to reduce carbon release while we transition to
the next source of energy. Alaska can play a major
role in this transition, based on our vast natural gas
resources, and our carbon sequestration opportunities
in depleted subsurface reservoirs. Oil production at
ANWR could help as a bridge to access to our natural
gas resources, and eventually to gas commercialization
of natural gas at ANWR and across the North Slope. The
U.S. Geological Survey has estimated potential
reserves of nearly 8 billion barrels of oil, and 7 TCF
[trillion cubic feet] of gas in the subsurface of the
Coastal Plain of ANWR.
2:25:06 PM
Jobs
Alaska and the nation are suffering from massive
unemployment due to the pandemic, magnified in Alaska
by the collapse in oil price. We are just now seeing
some recovery in oil price, but we all know how
reliable that trend has proven to be. We have yet to
see recovery in energy sector jobs in Alaska, and
Alliance member companies and their employees are
impacted particularly severely. Jobs associated with
exploration and development of ANWR resources will
have significant positive impact for our members, and
indeed the benefit to the State of Alaska and the U.S.
jobs market will be significant, as evidenced by the
activity associated with oil development across the
North Slope of Alaska [historically]. We desperately
need this jobs engine to help our return to a healthy
employment environment.
Environmental Stewardship
Alliance companies have helped the oil industry in
Alaska to be leaders in safe and environmentally sound
exploration and development of oil and gas on a global
level. We strongly believe that Alaskans can explore
for, develop, and produce oil and gas in a more
prudent, safe and environmentally sensitive manner
than anyone in the world. The Alliance is working to
brand this record of safety and environmentally
sensitive development on behalf of our industry in
Alaska, and the industry has long recognized Alaska as
a training ground for their global operations in
minimizing impact and footprint associated with
oilfield development. We can develop and produce oil
and gas from ANWR's Coastal Plain with minimal impact,
and with a tiny footprint. We have proved this across
the North Slope of Alaska.
Access to Resources
A fundamental premise of the resolution is that Alaska
and Alaskans have a right to benefit from our resource
wealth, but we can't benefit from what we cannot
access. Alaska is a resource state, from our
significant mineral resources to our abundant
fisheries, our spectacular natural beauty, and our oil
and gas opportunities. We need to develop a more
diverse economy, no doubt, but we rely almost
exclusively on extraction of our natural resources to
drive our economy, and we have since before Statehood.
It is rational for Alaskans to expect to benefit from
the natural resources with which we've been blessed,
and it is reasonable for us to have access to those
resources and associated jobs and revenue whether on
state, federal or private lands. This resolution makes
a clear case for that access. As stated earlier, this
resolution is aligned with Alliance mission and
objectives, and I believe submittal of this resolution
to the identified parties is not only appropriate but
required to help make Alaskan's voices heard in this
critical time.
2:28:12 PM
KATI CAPOZZI, President & CEO, Alaska Chamber of Commerce,
testified in support of HJR 12. She spoke as follows:
The Alaska Chamber was founded in 1953 and our mission
is to advocate for a healthy business environment in
Alaska. The chamber has more than 700 members and
represents businesses of all sizes and industries from
across the state.
The Alaska Chamber thanks you for introducing HJR 12
and enthusiastically supports HJR 12. Our top federal
priority at the chamber for years has been to support
oil and gas exploration and development in Alaska's
federal areas and to encourage and support the Alaska
Legislature to strongly advocate for responsible
development of these valuable resources.
Our reason for prioritizing this issue is simple.
Developing the 1002 Area of ANWR would provide
incredible opportunity for all Alaskans, especially
economic opportunities. Responsible development in
the 1002 Area would provide an invaluable boost to
America's energy security and bring much needed
economic growth potential to Alaska at a time when we
need it most. Our iconic pipeline also desperately
needs new oil the ANWR development could provide.
ANWR has incredible potential for oil and gas more
than 10 billion barrels by some government estimates.
For reference, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline has moved
just more than 17 billion barrels of oil since startup
more than 40 years ago. So the resource potential in
ANWR is truly incredible. A project the size and
scope of ANWR would create thousands of high-paying
jobs for Alaskans. In addition, with the Point
Thomson development fully operational just to the west
of ANWR, the 1002 Area is closer than ever to existing
infrastructure and could feed into TAPS with a much
smaller footprint than in years past.
The Alaska Chamber was pleased to see potential
development of ANWR making historic progress in recent
years. However, with a new administration in
Washington, DC, ANWR's future is less certain. We
appreciate and applaud the joint resolution's sponsors
for sending a strong bi-partisan signal of support for
maintaining that momentum and hope our collective
Alaskan voices make a difference to federal policy
makers.
Last but not least, the Alaska Chamber's statewide
scientific polling of Alaskans attitudes about ANWR
continually show the vast majority of Alaskans support
opening a small portion of ANWR to oil and gas
development. Two-thirds of Alaskans support it and
they have for decades.
We thank you for introducing a resolution that stands
to improve the business climate and to create jobs
here in Alaska at a time when we need it more than
ever, and we offer our full support.
2:31:04 PM
MARLEANNA HALL, Executive Director, Resource Development Council
for Alaska (RDC), testified in support of HJR 12. She said RDC
is a statewide business association comprised of individuals and
companies from Alaska's oil and gas, fishing, forestry, mining,
and tourism industries. She continued as follows:
Our membership includes all 12 landowning Alaska
Native corporations, local communities, organized
labor, industry support firms, and thousands of
Alaskans supporting responsible development of
Alaska's natural resources.
I am here today to express strong support for HJR 12
as it supports the oil and gas lease program that will
allow limited activity within the non-wilderness
portion of the Coastal Plain of ANWR.
... This legislation well describes measures to
properly address ANILCA and the intent to preserve
areas in the Coastal Plain for oil and gas
development. Further, it is important that we allow
for the eventual development, production, and
transportation of oil and gas in and from the Coastal
Plain that would meet the requirements established by
Congress.
Alaska depends on the responsible development of its
natural resources to expand and support our economy.
Alaskans statewide have long supported oil and gas
exploration and development in the Coastal Plain. ...
Polling has consistently shown 70 percent of Alaskans
in support of development of energy resources beneath
the 1002 Area. In addition, local residents and the
Inupiat people who actually live adjacent to the 1002
Area have also demonstrated support for development.
However, we recognize there are special interests that
are opposed to any further development of America's
energy resources. They advocate for leaving oil in
the ground, but even in the era of climate change
reality requires continued development of America's
oil and gas resources. While ... renewable and
alternative energy will make up a growing part of U.S.
energy portfolio, it will not significantly reduce our
reliance on oil in the near or mid term. We don't
deny renewable energy as a growing part of America's
portfolio, but it is still only projected to account
for a minority of American energy production in 2040.
... New oil and gas production will be required to
power America's energy and can serve as a bridge until
renewable energy becomes a more dominant energy source
decades into the future. Every barrel of oil not
developed in Alaska or America will simply be imported
from overseas where environmental regulations are
often weaker. To further reduce our reliance on
foreign sources of oil, America must continue to
pursue responsible oil and gas development onshore and
offshore Alaska. New production would provide a
bridge to the alternative and renewable energy sources
of the future.
Oil development on a fraction of the Coastal Plain
would create thousands of jobs nationwide and in
Alaska, generate billions of dollars in government
revenues for all public services, ... and further
improve energy security for decades into the future.
Not only does Alaska need oil and gas development on
the Coastal Plain, but the rest of the United States
would benefit from it too. Let's fuel America's
future with ANWR.
2:35:07 PM
MATTHEW REXFORD, President, Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation;,
Tribal Administrator,, Native Village of Kaktovik, testified in
support of HJR 12. He paraphrased from the following written
statement [original punctuation provided]:
My name is Matthew Rexford and I represent the
community of Kaktovik, the only community inside the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR (also
known and referred to as the Refuge), but more
importantly Kaktovik is the only community inside the
Coastal Plain area of ANWR the area covered by your
Resolution. In many ways, I find it frustrating that
ANWR is still an issue of public debate my community
has supported oil and gas leasing in the Coastal Plain
for many decades and it was not until the Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act of 2017 that we were able to realize our
vision. I have to admit that I am extreme frustrated
that it took seventeen paragraphs before the
Kaktovikmiut are even mentioned in HJR No. 12 and that
caribou are mentioned before the people. You are
speaking of my homeland, our children have been raised
in this region and our ancestors are buried here. It
seems that the Kaktovikmiut, my people, continue to be
overlooked between the arguments over oil and gas and
Caribou which in many national discussions we have
been erased- yet ANWR would not have been opened
without our efforts.
Despite my frustration, I am speaking today to urge
you to support HJR No. 12 and to state that by doing
so you will support the Kaktovikmiut in the farthest
northeast corner of the State. We oppose any attempts
to designate ANWR as a National Monument. I will keep
my comments brief because our list of grievances is
long.
Our community has continually been caught between
federal actions that impactour ability to realize our
visions of a vibrant and sustainable future. The
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1974 (ANCSA)
was supposed to allow our Kaktovik I?upiat Corporation
(KIC) the economic freedoms to develop its lands to
benefit our community. However, ANCSA was followed by
the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands
Conservation Act of [1980] (ANILCA) which compromised
KIC's ability to access and develop its lands.
Kaktovik did not want to be an island in the middle of
a Refuge but it happened anyway. Having lived in the
Refuge since ANILCA I am here to tell you that life
has been difficult, and the federal management agency
has not performed its duty to our community as
required. We would not expect that to change if ANWR
was designated a national monument.
By example, in February 2020, our school burned to the
ground. We immediately applied for an overland permit
to move temporary school modules across the coastal
plain as an in-holder of the Refuge we have rights
under ANILCA that were not provided to us. As a last
minute stop-gap measure we were forced to move the
modules over the sea-ice to our community which added
significant risk to the transport operation.
Representative Patkotak, you understand the challenge
that we faced as a community to achieve moving modules
before we lost the sea ice route. This represents a
failure by the Refuge land management agency to
acknowledge our rights.
We support oil and gas development not only on our
lands but on the adjacent federal lands to provide for
economic opportunities to our people through jobs and
new business development. Our tribe, corporation, and
city government all actively participated not only in
the public process, but also in government-to-
government consultation, of the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) performed the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) development and supported full
leasing of the entire Coastal Plain with the
mitigations and stipulation presented in the Record of
Decision. Potential development of the coastal plain
is not only important for Kaktovik' s economy, but
also critical for the long-term economic
sustainability of our municipal government, the North
Slope Borough (NSB). Without the services the NSB
provides Kaktovik, and the other seven communities
within the North Slope of Alaska would still be living
in third-world conditions. The life expectancy of the
I?upiat has increased 13-years since development of
oil within our region due to the borough providing for
clean water and sanitation in our communities. We can
not turn the clock back we are part of the United
States and demand first world amenities and until we
find something else to provide for our health and
economic well-being we are fundamentally a people
dependent on resource development. We have been able
to come to terms with that paradox while at the same
time providing appropriate protections to our
subsistence resources and the lands and waters they
are dependent on.
We recognize that exploration is the first phase of
opportunity for our community I am sure that you have
seen in the press last week surrounding our inability
to receive permits to perform a low-impact seismic
program over our lands. Seismic is an important step
to determine whether there are potential drillable
targets for oil and gas. Due to our location, this was
an important project to identify local natural gas
targets that could be developed as a long-term energy
resource and move our community away from its reliance
of diesel and our only energy source. However, again
we were thwarted by the federal government to progress
toward a sustainable future.
Again, I request that you support HJR No. 12. I will
also leave you with this request and that is to not
forget about the people, my people, in the future.
Thank you for your time and invitation.
2:41:33 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK held over HJR 12 and stated that public testimony
would be taken at the resolution's next hearing.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HJR 12 Supporting Document ADN Editorial 3.1.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| HJR 12 Testimony Matthew Rexford Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation 2.28.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| HJR 12 Letter of Support AIDEA 3.2.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| HJR 12 Sponsor Statement 2.22.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/1/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| HJR 12 Research AOGA Statement on Federal Leasing Ban 01.27.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/1/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| Dept. of Environmental Conservation Presentation for HRES.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM |
DEC Overview |
| HJR 12 FN NA.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| HJR 12 Testimony AOGA 3.8.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |
| HJR 12 Testimony Tom Walsh AK Support Industry Alliance 3.8.2021.pdf |
HRES 3/8/2021 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HJR 12 |