Legislature(1993 - 1994)
02/23/1993 11:02 AM Senate O&G
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON OIL & GAS
February 23, 1993
11:02 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Loren Leman, Chairman
Senator Rick Halford
Senator Bert Sharp
Senator Judith Salo
Senator Al Adams
MEMBERS ABSENT
All Present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Confirmation Hearing: David Johnston, Alaska Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission
Norman Ingram, Alaska Clean Seas
WITNESS REGISTER
David Johnston, Chairman
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
3001 Porcupine Dr.
Anchorage, Alaska 99501-3120
POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing.
Norman Ingram, Manager
Alaska Clean Seas
12350 Industry Way, Suite 200
P.O. Box 196010
Anchorage, Alaska 99519-6010
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave ACS presentation.
Mike Conway, Director
Division of Spill Prevention and Response
Department of Environmental Conservation
410 Willoughby Ave., Suite 105
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on ACS.
Commander Page, Chief
U.S. Coast Guard Marine Environmental Program
709 W. 9th
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on ACS.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-3, SIDE A
Number 001
SENATOR LEMAN called the Special Committee on Oil and Gas
meeting to order at 11:02 a.m. and said it would
teleconference with David Johnston for his confirmation to
the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
DAVID JOHNSTON, Chairman, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission, said it is an independent quasi judicial agency
that oversees oil and gas drilling, development, production,
reservoir depletion, and metering operations on all land
subject to the state's lease powers. It administers the
federally mandated program called the Grand Injection
Control Program which has to do with injection below ground
of oil and gas related waste. It also serves as a forum for
resolving oil and gas disputes within and between industry.
He was first appointed to the Commission in 1989 by Governor
Cowper. He has a Master of Science degree in Engineering
and Science Management from the University of Alaska
Fairbanks and a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Geology from
Montana State University.
He said the commission's reservoir surveillance computer
system is the most recent technological advance used to
enhance reservoir monitoring. It retrieves detailed
information which has greatly improved productivity.
Number 100
The commission has also expanded its field inspection
program. It is taking a lead in helping other state
agencies carry out their statutory authorities and is
sharing information about its injection control program.
MR. JOHNSTON said he has wide support within industry and
the Alaska environmental community.
Number 144
SENATOR LEMAN asked him to comment on the commission budget.
MR. JOHNSTON said he is a bit frustrated with the budget.
He said he was charged with revitalizing the Commission and
he thought he had been successful in doing that, but it is
very hard to build programs without adequate funding. He
said Alaska deserves a solidly built conservation
commission. We have a tremendous role to play and it can be
improved upon significantly.
Number 190
SENATOR LEMAN asked if ADGCC is dealing adequately with the
challenges that precipitated the resignation of Commissioner
Griffin. MR. JOHNSTON said he didn't want to comment in
detail since it had to do with a personnel matter. He
believed in treating employees fairly and yet he is
interested in work being delivered by employees commensurate
with their salary. He said they were taking steps to deal
with the situation.
Number 221
SENATOR LEMAN noted for the record that SENATOR HALFORD had
been present and would return shortly.
SENATOR ADAMS moved and asked unanimous consent to confirm
the appointment of David W. Johnston to the Alaska Oil and
Gas Conservation Commission. There were no objections and
it was so ordered.
Number 238
SENATOR LEMAN introduced Norm Ingram, Manager, Alaska Clean
Seas (ACS) to give his presentation.
MR. INGRAM said Alaska Clean Seas is a non profit oil spill
cooperative covering the North Slope area. He gave the
Committee an update of the organization and briefed it on a
specific project to carry out an in situ burn test this
summer in Russian waters near Vladivostok. ACS had plans to
hold an identical test in the Beaufort Sea, but could not
obtain the necessary permits from EPA to let it happen, he
explained.
MR. INGRAM said ACS has 10 member companies now, three other
companies had recently terminated to carry on operations in
other countries.
ACS' fundamental strategy is to have the initial response
provided by the operator in question, no matter how small
its operation. They all have the opportunity to seek
secondary support from ACS directly and through their
auxiliary contractor teams. They have a binding mutual aid
agreement where each of the operators have agreed to assist
one another in the event any one of them would have a
problem. This is supported by the necessary liability
indemnification provisions.
Number 390
MR. INGRAM reviewed numbers of people ACS has trained for
response and how many hours of training they received. ACS'
primary contract is with a spill response company called
VCRA. To their credit, there was an unannounced drill a
year ago and rather than having the required 200 people,
when the drill was called off they had 756.
He said ACS has the largest inventory of its type any where
in the world.
The Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC)is in the
process of setting up five depots around the United States.
Each one of those centers will have 35,000 - 40,000 feet of
boom which he compared to our 860,000 feet here in Alaska.
He said MSRC was involved in 10 events the past year, seven
of which were not in his area. Sometimes MSRC would just
give advice as they did, for instance, for a spill off the
coast of Africa.
They provided 97 different types of courses for a total of
17,500 man hours of training. They would like to be able to
assist in a third party type situation where their equipment
may be used somewhere like the Aleutian Chain or Southeast
Alaska where coverage is scant. All of their equipment is
Hercules transportable. They have presented a contract to
the state of Alaska under which that type of support could
be provided. He stressed that they are not interested in
competing with commercial firms.
Number 492
MIKE CONWAY, Director, Division of Spill Prevention and
Response, DEC, said DEC would like to have the type of
arrangement where the ACS equipment would be available for
DEC use. The request was taken to the Department of Law
which is working out their concerns with liability and the
procurement code.
Number 549
MR. INGRAM said the rest of the state was very challenging
in terms of its size and because of its exposure. He said a
significant number of spills that happen in Alaska are on
the Aleutian Chain.
He said the U.S. Navy invited ACS to join a forum of
approximately 10 entities worldwide to look at an
international cooperative venture, including Australia and
the UK, to allow a fast response network to be set up by the
Department of Defense.
Number 560
MR. INGRAM explained that in situ burning is a new
technique, although it is very simple. When an oil spill
occurs, a decision can be made quickly to ignite the oil and
burn as much as possible. He said they had hoped to carry
out a test of this technique in the Beaufort Sea, but could
not obtain a permit from EPA. They are now hoping to carry
out the test in Russia in July, 1993.
TAPE 93-3, SIDE B
Number 580
They plan to burn approximately one thousand barrels of
crude oil in a controlled fashion over five hours, to ignite
it, and then monitor a number of elements of the test. He
said it is regrettable that the smoke coming off burning oil
is black, because the emissions that come off crude oil
before it's ignited are arguably a bit worse than when it is
burned. Virtually all the components that evaporate off oil
which includes things like benzene, when ignited, turn to
CO2 (carbon dioxide). He said the Russians don't feel able
to make any financial contributions to the program. In
fact, he would like to hire some of their vessels for the
program. ACS has thought the program could be funded in a
three way partnership arrangement - the U. S. Government,
the State of Alaska, and industry. If funding from the
state will be available, they need to know before mid-March.
Number 492
SENATOR SHARP asked if the location had attributes similar
to those of the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea. MR. INGRAM
said temperature was not a big factor. If anything, colder
conditions enhance the burning technique, because it tends
to limit the amount of evaporation of the light end
fractions coming off the oil. Other characteristics are
similar. It was not their choice to go that far away for a
test, but the EPA did not give them a permit to do it in
U.S. waters. He thought the Russians wanted the test where
it is so they could support it from their large marine base
in Vladivostok.
SENATOR SHARP said he was concerned with the location of the
test and the fact that we are putting up all the money.
Number 430
COMMANDER PAGE, Chief, Coast Guard Marine Environmental
Program, said EPA's jurisdiction goes out to the end of the
EEZ. They are very reticent to give permits for amounts
over 50 barrels, because of the concerns of local
environmental groups. He said overseas countries are much
more amenable to that approach. He thought it was a
promising approach and would like to have it in their tool
box.
MR. INGRAM said he saw this as an opportunity to be able to
push the technology forward. The U.S. is bearing the cost;
they are offering the state the opportunity to participate
financially. This technique should be fully investigated.
Number 412
SENATOR LEMAN asked when he needed to know about the state
commitment and if it was critical to the project. MR.
INGRAM answered that state participation is most critical,
because funding has been lined up on the federal side and it
looks promising from the industry side. A commitment from
the state by mid-March is critical.
MR. CONWAY said DEC fully supports the concept and that the
funding could come from the Exxon Valdez restoration fund
which has money for things like that.
Number 356
SENATOR SALO asked if there had been any Japanese
involvement in the discussions involving this project. MR.
INGRAM said there has been no direct involvement, but that
is one possible interest supporting the industry side of the
funding.
Number 349
SENATOR SHARP asked if the EPA would accept the test as
legitimate to be used in U.S. territory? MR. INGRAM said
that the acceptance is there and that EPA would supply some
of the technical experts that would work on the
investigation work.
SENATOR SHARP said he would like something in writing from
the EPA before he would throw a million dollars at it. He
wanted to know if they would use North Slope crude oil for
the test. MR. INGRAM said originally they were going to use
it, but now that the test is so far away they would consider
a comparable type of crude from Russia as an alternative.
MR. CONWAY said that EPA wants to get information they need
to streamline the permitting process.
COMMANDER PAGE said they have endorsement of the program
from the Alaska Regional Response Team and EPA is the Co-
Chair of that group. COMMANDER PAGE said they have
favorable endorsement from everyone in the Regional Response
Teams, including EPA.
Number 301
SENATOR LEMAN asked if there was anything else to come
before the committee and adjourned the meeting at 12:15 p.m.
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