Legislature(2011 - 2012)BARNES 124
02/17/2012 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR29 | |
| HB229 | |
| HB276 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HJR 29 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 276 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 229 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HJR 29-BLM LEGACY OIL WELL CLEAN UP
1:06:18 PM
CO-CHAIR FEIGE announced that the first order of business would
be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 29, Urging the United States
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, to plug
legacy wells properly and to reclaim the legacy well sites as
soon as possible in order to protect the environment in the
Arctic region.
1:07:08 PM
JEFF TURNER, Staff, Representative Charisse Millett, Alaska
State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Millett, prime
sponsor, thanked the committee for taking up HJR 29 once again.
He said the resolution urges the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) to create a long-term plan to properly plug and clean up
the legacy well sites in northern Alaska. The drilling stopped
three decades ago and only a few wells have been plugged
according to Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC)
standards. Dozens are still out of compliance and at least
three can no longer be found. Now is the time for the
legislature to make its voice heard in Washington, DC, and to
get these wells cleaned up before any more contamination can
take place. He said word about the resolution has gotten out
and the sponsor has now heard from some environmental
organizations and Native communities about the issue. The
Alaska Conservation Alliance board of directors has issued a
letter of support for HJR 29 and several Native communities are
in favor of the resolution. In a sense, the resolution speaks
for the legislature as well as for Alaskans across the board.
REPRESENTATIVE HERRON asked whether the federal government has
acknowledged that this is its fault and is sorry it happened.
MR. TURNER replied that Representative Millett has not received
any comment from the federal government in response to
Representative Herron's request.
1:10:20 PM
ESTHER HUGO, Mayor, Anaktuvuk Pass, testified that the area in
which she lives has six or seven of the contaminated well sites,
including Umiat. A road is not needed to clean up the sites,
she said. The community has forbidden its children from
swimming in Eleanor Lake near the village, which is contaminated
according to a 2009 letter from the U.S. Department of Defense.
However, when it is hot in the summer the children cannot be
stopped from swimming in the lake. The resolution is a good
start, she said, because the federal and state governments and
the corporations should be held responsible for cleaning up.
She reported that there are dozens of similar well sites on
state land in the North Slope. She further noted that she was
first told about this problem by her grandparents.
MAYOR HUGO, in response to Co-Chair Seaton, agreed to provide a
copy of the letter from the U.S. Department of Defense for the
committee record.
CO-CHAIR FEIGE requested that any allegations of wells on state
land needing cleanup be forwarded in writing to the committee.
MAYOR HUGO agreed to do so.
1:13:21 PM
GEORGE EDWARDSON, President, Inupiat Community of the Arctic
Slope, noted that he is speaking for the tribes of the eight
North Slope Communities of Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Anaktuvuk Pass,
Atqasuk, Barrow, Wainwright, Point Lay, and Point Hope. He said
he is in his twenty-third year as president of the regional
tribal government. Regarding the legacy wells, he said he was
with the [Barrow] Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) which
included the U.S. Air Force and Navy, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, BLM, and State of Alaska. He related that of all the
wells referred to by Mayor Hugo, 41 have collapsed and none of
the sites have been cleaned. The wells were drilled, then the
rig was taken to another location, and the contaminants were
left; all the mud pits are still there as mud pits.
1:15:00 PM
MR. EDWARDSON reported that 19 Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line
sites were contaminated. So far 11 of them have been cleaned
right down to the chemicals in the sand. The contaminated soil
was put into containers for removal at a later date with the
understanding that removal of those barrels was the
responsibility of the United States. All of this contamination
and damage was done before statehood, so the state had no hand
in making this mess. He said he concentrated on cleaning the
wells that were about to go into the ocean as a result of the
shoreline receding from global warming; for example, the beach
adjacent to Barrow has moved back one mile over the past 50
years. Nothing was done with the casing on the wells and no
packing was put in and even if rubber packing had been installed
it would now be over 70 years old, totally obsolete, and in need
of being taken care of. The mud pits are still there and
animals fall in and still die from the toxins in the soil.
1:17:21 PM
MR. EDWARDSON noted that of the wells cleaned up, approximately
six were about to fall into the ocean. The well mentioned [in
the 2/8/12 hearing] that cost over $16 million [to plug and
abandon] was less than 50 feet from the ocean and crude oil was
bubbling out of the ground. The high cost was because a rig had
to be brought in and the well cemented shut. The other wells
have not been cleaned. He said Umiat was the last place he
tried to clean up while on the RAB. The Umiat dump was being
exposed and it contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from
the time when it was legal to dump PCBs. He found 368
transformers in the Umiat dump, but only 8 of them were brought
out during the cleanup. Now the dump is in the Coleville River.
He reported that burbot in the Coleville River, a fish that does
not move and stays in place to eat, are so contaminated that the
people have been told not to eat more than three a year. Over
three years before the dump went into the river, he and others
in the RAB tried to get it cleaned up, but the excuse from the
federal government was that there was no funding. Now that the
dump is in the Colville River it is scattered from Umiat all the
way down the river and when the people of Nuiqsut eat fish they
are eating PCB, thanks to the federal government.
1:19:55 PM
MR. EDWARDSON said that every documenting paper for what he has
mentioned is in the RAB files. He said he bullied the federal
government to clean up the wells because he has to live with it,
as do his children and grandchildren. His grandchildren do not
know where it is unsafe to play. If the federal government is
trying to let the state clean up the wells, then the tribe will
stand beside the state to ensure that this is done because it
has to be done. This is his home that has been contaminated and
he is glad to see the committee attempting to clean it; he urged
that the job be done.
MR. EDWARDSON, in response to Representative P. Wilson, agreed
to provide the committee with a copy of the letter telling
people not to eat more than three fish a year. He said he would
get the letter from the [North Slope Borough Department of
Wildlife Management] because they are the ones that tested the
fish. He said that cleaning up the dump would have stopped the
river from being contaminated and he is not accepting the
federal government's excuse.
1:21:44 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER remarked that Mr. Edwardson's outrage is
contagious. She asked whether the containers with contaminated
soil from the cleaned well sites on the DEW Line are still
there.
MR. EDWARDSON replied that some of the containers are still
there. He said the containers are plastic lined so the rain and
snow cannot get in and are stored in a place where they are
ready for shipment. Now, however, a permit cannot be gotten for
hauling out that contaminated soil. The previous containers
went to a naval site near Seattle. As mentioned by Mayor Hugo,
contamination has been done by both the state and the federal
government. The utilidor in Barrow is laced with 10.5 million
board feet of pentachlorobiphenyl-treated wood, and the
contaminant is now throughout the town. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers built the utilidor and the borough was the contractor.
During construction of the utilidor, half a dozen women lost
their babies from broken umbilical cords, a habit of this
particular contaminant. These people were painting and cutting
the wood without proper protection. Regarding the DEW Lines, he
said that through the tribal government he had the federal
government admitting it was their mess.
1:24:17 PM
DAVE THERIAULT, Legislative and Outreach Director, Alaska
Conservation Alliance, offered his organization's support for
HJR 29 and thanked the sponsor for bringing the resolution
forward.
1:24:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER commented there is no reason to expect
that this resolution will bring results from the federal
government. It is an expression of the legislature's outrage
that the state's lands are contaminated and that this has been
known for a long time with little done to remedy it. She asked
whether anything else might be done to make this problem broadly
known and encourage some sort of resolution.
CATHERINE FOERSTER, Engineering Commissioner, Alaska Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission (AOGCC), replied that she has been
worrying this problem since she arrived at AOGCC in 2005 and she
has finally decided that the only thing that can be done is to
embarrass the federal government in the court of public opinion.
The local BLM folks are Alaskans too, she said, and would like
to see it cleaned up, but their budget is only $1 million
annually and that is hardly enough to pay for the Alaska BLM's
staff and share of the building and the paperwork to keep up
with the status of these wells. The Alaska BLM certainly does
not get enough money to plug the wells. She said this needs to
be discussed with Alaska's Congressional Delegation,
environmental groups, and others and noise must be made to make
this a priority that the federal government allocates budget to.
Ms. Foerster added that the local BLM folks have this issue as a
high priority with no money. Mr. [Ted] Murphy of the Alaska BLM
has committed to collaborate with AOGCC and she is meeting with
him next week to share data to ensure that everyone has the same
data and same understanding of the status of all 136 wells.
There will likely also be an agreement for a way forward about
what to do next. She said she will keep the committee informed
as to what is done; however, the bottom line is that until there
is a budget for the Alaska BLM, the meetings will just be a
dusting off of furniture.
1:27:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON inquired whether this situation would
get taken care of if it were in the Lower 48.
MS. FOERSTER responded that if this were in an area that had a
larger and more vocal population with easier access for people
to see, it would be gone. Alaska's situation is out of sight,
out of mind except for the few people who live out there. She
offered her appreciation for the committee's championing of this
effort.
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON offered her belief that if more of the
organizations concerned about contamination were to jump on the
bandwagon there would be more results.
MS. FOERSTER agreed and said that if Greenpeace, the Sierra
Club, and other bigger organizations with lobbying emphasis in
Washington, DC, were to put their horsepower behind this the
issue would be taken care of.
1:29:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER surmised that if there are a lot of wells
in the Lower 48 that need plugging, Alaska will be at the end of
a very long line. However, he continued surmising, if there are
only a few such wells perhaps Alaska would be next in line if
there was some movement. He asked which scenario is the case.
MS. FOERSTER replied she does not think there are many wells
managed by the federal government in the Lower 48. However,
there may be some in Montana and Wyoming and they probably have
some of the same issues as Alaska as far as out of sight, out of
mind and a small population that is not influential.
REPRESENTATIVE DICK quipped that the federal government is too
busy setting up sting operations for Amish farmers bringing
unpasteurized milk across the Pennsylvania border and therefore
does not have the funds for something as "insignificant" as
this.
1:31:00 PM
CO-CHAIR FEIGE closed public testimony on HJR 29.
CO-CHAIR SEATON moved to report HJR 29 out of committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HJR 29 was reported from the
House Resources Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB276 Potential Frontier Basins Map.pdf |
HRES 2/17/2012 1:00:00 PM |
HB 276 |
| HB276 Frontier Stampede DNR 2.16.12.pdf |
HRES 2/17/2012 1:00:00 PM |
HB 276 |
| CSHB 229 Amendment - Seaton.PDF |
HRES 2/17/2012 1:00:00 PM |
HB 229 |
| HJR 29 Support Letter AK Conservation Alliance.pdf |
HRES 2/17/2012 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HJR 29 BLM Response to HRES.pdf |
HRES 2/17/2012 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HJR29 Fiscal Note - LAA.pdf |
HRES 2/17/2012 1:00:00 PM |