04/09/2009 02:30 PM Senate ENERGY

          SJR  7-OPPOSE UN DESIGNATION OF ARCTIC OCEAN                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
2:52:16 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR MCGUIRE announced consideration of SJR 7.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  GENE THERRIAULT,  Alaska State  Legislature, sponsor  of                                                               
SJR 7,  said it  was introduced  after his  staff saw  an article                                                               
relating  how  a  group  of  top  U.S.  and  Canadian  scientists                                                               
proposed that  an ice park  be established under the  auspices of                                                               
the  U.N.  in the  Arctic  to  protect the  critically  shrinking                                                               
Arctic ice  from further damage.  It would  preclude trans-Arctic                                                               
Ocean  shipping, resource  development  and  any increased  human                                                               
activity in the  Arctic. With the uncertainty of  exactly what is                                                               
going on  with the Polar  Ice Cap,  the resolution calls  for not                                                               
taking the step  of creating an Arctic Ocean ice  park as a World                                                               
Heritage Site.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
2:53:57 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  WIELECHOWSKI  asked  what   happens  when  something  is                                                               
designated as a World Heritage Site.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
DAVE  STANCLIFF,  Staff,  to  Senator  Therriault,  Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature said the Kluane area in  Alaska and Canada is a World                                                               
Heritage  Site  extending  across  international  boundaries.  It                                                               
creates  a  multi-jurisdictional   management  regime  that  goes                                                               
across   sometimes   cultural   but  most   often   international                                                               
boundaries.   There is a  movement in  this case to  suggest that                                                               
such    a   multinational    effort    would   be    advantageous                                                               
environmentally. The  problem is  that all  the countries  of the                                                               
world are still  asserting and wrangling over who  owns what part                                                               
of the Arctic.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
2:55:17 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI questioned if  the U.N. designates Kluane as                                                               
a World Heritage Site, would  that doesn't usurp any jurisdiction                                                               
or take away any rights from the United States.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  THERRIAULT  answered  his understanding  is  that  World                                                               
Heritage Sites  are agreed to  be managed according to  the rules                                                               
that are  set up  by the  United Nations  (U.N.) The  U.N. cannot                                                               
take away Alaska's right to  control the acreage; it's whether we                                                               
are  willing to  go into  it. If  any step  were to  freeze those                                                               
suggestions of  who owns  what, that might  be a  disadvantage to                                                               
the U.S. and  to Alaska, being that  it is the only  state of the                                                               
United States that is in the Arctic.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
2:56:59 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  KOOKESH  moved  to  report SJR  7  from  committee  with                                                               
individual  recommendations and  attached  fiscal note(s).  There                                                               
being no objection, the motion carried.