Legislature(1997 - 1998)
02/19/1997 03:40 PM Senate RES
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SENATE RESOURCES COMMITTEE
February 19, 1997
3:40 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Lyda Green, Vice Chairman
Senator Loren Leman
Senator Bert Sharp
Senator Robin Taylor
Senator Georgianna Lincoln
Senator John Torgerson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Rick Halford, Chairman
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12 am
Urging the Secretary of the Interior to conduct competitive oil and
gas lease sales within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
- MOVED SCSHJR 12(RES) FROM COMMITTEE
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 22(STA)
"An Act relating to qualifications for appointment to the Board of
Game."
- MOVED CSSB 22(RES) FROM COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
HJR 12 - No previous action to record.
SB 22 - See State Affairs minutes dated 1/23/97.
WITNESS REGISTER
Representative Joe Green
State Capitol Bldg.
Juneau, AK 99811-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HJR 12.
Wayne Regelin, Director
Division of Wildlife Conservation
Department of Fish and Game
P.O. Box 25526
Juneau, AK 99802-5526
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 22.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-12, SIDE A
Number 001
HJR 12 LEASES IN NATL PETROLEUM RESERVE
VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN called the Senate Resources Committee me
to order at 3:40 p.m. and announced HJR 12 to be up for
consideration.
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN , sponsor of HJR 12, said it urges the
federal government to continue with what they already have the
right to do which is to resume leasing in the Arctic Petroleum
Reserve. Historically, in 1923 President Harding established Naval
Petroleum Reserve 4 along with three others in the lower 48 because
it seemed prudent to have a ready supply of petroleum to power our
naval warships. Shortly after this there were lots of discoveries
and until the early war years of WWII there was practically no
activity. In 1943 activity was renewed and by the time of the
Korean War about 45 shallow wells had been drilled along with 36
core tests. In that process three deposits of oil and three
separate deposits of gas were found, but none large enough to be
considered commercial. The bottom line is that there are still no
commercial finds of oil and gas in the Reserve.
He directed their attention to a map of the wells that are
scattered all over the reserve. There are none west of Nuiqsut or
the Colville Delta which is the region of great concern now because
of the alpine discovery announced by ARCO earlier this year.
The indication is very strong that the accumulation either extends
across the river or that there may be ancillary oil accumulations
with major finds.
In the interests of trying to develop the field to its fullest, it
seems only prudent that there would be leases granted by the
government to interested oil companies. The Governor has
encouraged the federal administration to open NPRA and Secretary
Babbit has indicated this might be a good thing to do.
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN said he had a meeting with the federal
government on whether there would be a need for a new Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) or just an update of the existing EIS that
was done in 1982. The BLM has indicated an update that might take
18 months. He is concerned that if it is just an update of an
existing EIS, why it would take 18 months. He thought we should
make sure they are going to honor their commitment to allow leasing
there. He thought HJR 12 sends a unified message from the State of
Alaska saying we are interested in resuming leasing there and
developing. He said we are doing this is in addition to, not
instead of, ANWR.
Number 144
SENATOR LINCOLN said she was not trying to slow down this
legislation, but she wanted to add a Further Resolve clause stating
that "the activity be conducted in a manner that protects the
environment and uses the State's workforce to the maximum extent
possible." REPRESENTATIVE GREEN said he had no objection to doing
that. SENATOR LINCOLN said this was the same language used in
Senator Pearce's legislation and moved that language as an
amendment.
SENATOR TAYLOR objected for purposes of discussion because he
thought it was done before as a WHEREAS clause. He said he
appreciates the concerns, but everytime they talk about making mud
in this State, we have to have some language claiming to the world
that we're going to be pure in the way we do it. He didn't know of
any experiences up there in the last 15 - 20 years where
environmental concerns haven't been the overriding concern. He
didn't want to send any false hope in a resolution form that would
indicate that we could somehow force the hiring of Alaskans.
SENATOR LINCOLN said this is the exact language proposed by Senator
Pearce in her resolution that was adopted.
SENATOR TAYLOR said he would withdraw his objection.
SENATOR LEMAN said the amendment Senator Lincoln was referring to
was a WHEREAS clause which he supported in the other resolution and
he would suggest putting it in as the last WHEREAS. REPRESENTATIVE
GREEN said having it as a WHEREAS would remove the possibility of
some bureaucrats in Washington looking at this saying they had to
put this in as a Resolve because they haven't been doing it in the
past. He thought we should make every effort to let them know we
have been doing this all along.
SENATOR TORGERSON said he had the same question on the second
FURTHER RESOLVE - if that shouldn't be a WHEREAS because it looks
like it's directed at the legislature.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to adopt the amendment to the amendment. VICE-
CHAIRMAN GREEN said she opposed the amendment and asked
Representative Green what he would like to do.
There was some confusion as the committee discovered they were
referencing the wrong version of HJR 12. They received the
corrected version, HJR 12am and SENATOR LINCOLN suggested this
wording, "WHEREAS exploration and development shall be conducted in
a manner consistent with the State's on-going commitment to
protecting the environment and utilizing its workforce to the
maximum extent possible; and." She, then, withdrew her original
amendment and offered the new language as an amendment. SENATOR
LEMAN objected to change "shall" to "will" so they wouldn't be
commanding themselves to do something. He removed his objection.
VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN objected to make sure that all the verbs were
in agreement.
SENATOR TAYLOR moved to pass HJR 12 am(RES) from committee with
individual recommendations and asked for unanimous consent. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
SB 22 BOARD OF GAME QUALIFICATIONS
VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN announced SB 22 to be up for consideration.
SENATOR SHARP , sponsor, said it amends the required qualifications
for persons who may be appointed to the Board of Game by adding the
requirements that the applicant must have held an Alaska hunting or
trapping license or a permanent I.D. card of being over 60 years of
age during each of the five years immediately preceding the
appointment to the Board. This added requirement would provide
improved assurance of interest fostered by past involvement in
legal utilization of the game resource and understanding the
dynamics of arctic game resource management. Several states have
this license qualification requirement for appointment to their
state wildlife boards. SB 22 has a $0 fiscal note from ADF&G. He
thought there would still be a large pool of qualified applicants.
SENATOR TAYLOR said part of the motivation for this is to make
certain that that pool of Alaskans from which the Governor would
select would at least have some peripheral contact with the
resource they are regulating and would have some background to make
certain that those uses that are protected in our constitution
would be reflected in their previous life-style.
Number 453
SENATOR LINCOLN said she supports the intent of the bill, but she
is concerned with the five consecutive year standard . She asked
what if someone were ill or missed getting their license one year,
would they have to start out all over. Her second concern was that
women might be precluded from being on the Board because they
didn't actually have a license although they were involved in a
hunt and they may be good members.
SENATOR SHARP responded to her first concern saying that the five
year period was selected because it's easier to document the
records for the last five years. Beyond that the records are
unreliable. He wanted it to be enough to where the nominee has
demonstrated participation as a user of the resource.
Number 512
MR. WAYNE REGELIN, Director, Division of Wildlife Conservation,
said that he thought it was very appropriate for members of the
Board of Game to be hunters and he thought most of them had been.
Regarding the five year requirement, he said there are a lot of
hunters who don't hunt every year, because they are sick or they
are hunting in other states or countries once in a while.
VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN asked if there were any regional requirements.
MR. REGELIN answered that there were no requirements for geographic
or any other reason. The statute says is that the Governor shall
appoint members on the basis of interest in public affairs, good
judgement, knowledge and ability, with a view to providing
diversity of interests and points of view in membership.
SENATOR TAYLOR asked if either of the Governor's recent appointees
have met the qualifications if this law were in effect. MR.
REGELIN replied he hadn't checked the records on those two people.
Number 542
SENATOR TAYLOR moved to amend line 12 by deleting "each" and
inserting "at least five" of the "previous seven years." SENATOR
SHARP asked if records were available for seven years. MR. REGELIN
answered that they are. SENATOR SHARP said he would accept that
amendment. There were no objections and the amendment was adopted.
SENATOR TAYLOR asked if he knew of the gender mix for licenses.
MR. REGELIN said they had a figure of about 10,000 women, but he
would check it out. SENATOR TAYLOR asked how many licenses they
normally issue in a given year. MR. REGELIN replied 88,600
licenses were sold last year.
SENATOR TAYLOR moved to pass CSSB 22am(RES) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
Number 587
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