HJR 12-ENDORSING ANWR LEASING; RELATED ISSUES  4:25:25 PM CHAIR REVAK announced the consideration of CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12(RES), 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. 4:26:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE RAUSCHER, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of HJR 12, stated this resolution requests the 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 Interests Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) became law in 1980, Congress reserved the right to permit oil and gas development in the [1002 area] of the Coastal Plain of the refuge. Withing days of the first lease sale in January 2021, he said President Biden placed the entire leasing and development program on hold. HJR 12 urges this action to be reversed. REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER relayed that the resolution asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to honor the recent lease sales and proceed with permitting in the 1002 area of ANWR. It requests the agency take into account the long history of safe and responsible oil and gas development on the North Slope as well as the enormous benefit development in ANWR could bring to North Slope residents, the state, and the nation. REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER said HJR 12 further states that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any effort to employ the Antiquities Act to designate ANWR as a national monument. It beseeches President Biden to consult and engage in these important decisions and immediately rescind the provisions of Executive Order 13990 pertaining to ANWR. REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER offered his belief that this is both a states' rights issue as well as a jobs issue because development within the refuge could create tens of thousands of jobs across the country and thousands of jobs within Alaska. 4:29:15 PM SENATOR STEVENS asked how the Antiquities Act factors into lease sales in ANWR. 4:29:31 PM JESSE LOGAN, Staff, Representative George Rauscher, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained that the portion of the Antiquities Act that the resolution is questioning allows national monuments and protected lands to be established by executive order, without congressional action. 4:29:54 PM SENATOR KIEHL asked: 1) for the source of the data in the WHEREAS clause on page 2 that predicts the number of jobs at peak employment, and 2) when the numbers were collected. MR. LOGAN answered it is 2018 data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA). SENATOR KIEHL asked if the data reflects the scale and pace of development that is likely from the entities that won the bids in the recent lease sales. MR. LOGAN answered not necessarily; the numbers are estimates based on a 4:1 multiplier effect that is assumed for each oil and gas industry job both in Alaska and across the nation. The base was the assumed development in ANWR for the next 20 years. 4:31:19 PM SENATOR KAWASAKI asked what additional provisions are part of Executive Order 13990 and what the final FURTHER RESOLVED clause seeks to accomplish. MR. LOGAN replied he believes it was Section 1003 of the EO that placed a temporary moratorium on the development of oil and gas leases that had been issued in ANWR. He offered to provide a copy of the EO to the committee. SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if the moratorium on the current lease sales had an end date or was open ended. 4:32:17 PM MR. LOGAN answered there was no end date on the moratorium that applied to lease sales and permitting. He noted that another section of the EO directed the Department of Interior to review all Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) from the previous administration. SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if there was an estimate of how long the review of the existing Environmental Impact Statements would take. MR. LOGAN answered he was not aware of any such estimate. SENATOR KAWASAKI suggested that if the resolutions moves forward the COPIES section should be conceptually amended to reflect that Deb Haaland is the Secretary of the Interior. 4:33:19 PM SENATOR KIEHL questioned the last WHEREAS clause on page 2 that says, "the exploration and extraction of oil and gas has not been shown to contribute significantly to increased greenhouse gas emissions;". He pointed out that the transportation sector accounts for more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and it is all oil. MR. LOGAN answered that the clause is referring to the extraction of the hydrocarbon, not the consumption. He added, "By sector, the extraction of hydrocarbon oil and gas in Alaska contributes 0.7 percent of the U.S. global greenhouse gas emissions. So one-half of that is contributed to the sector of extraction, so [0.035] percent." 4:34:32 PM CHAIR REVAK asked if he was specifically referring to extraction. MR. LOGAN answered yes. REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER pointed to the words "exploration and extraction" on page 2, line 31. SENATOR KIEHL commented that he would need to check his Econ 107 textbook to understand what an increased supply of a marginally fungible commodity does to consumption. 4:35:12 PM SENATOR MICCICHE commented that the last he checked, Alaska produced fewer greenhouse emissions from exploration and production of hydrocarbons than any other state, so this is the best it gets. He suggested the resolution could have mentioned that because making it difficult to produce hydrocarbons in the most tightly regulated regime on the planet pushes production off to places like Russia that does not compare environmentally regardless of the metric used in the calculation. REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER agreed and thanked him for the comment. 4:37:23 PM SENATOR STEVENS asked what happens if the leases are made unavailable. MR. LOGAN replied he does not know, but on March 21 Alaska joined 12 other states in a lawsuit against the Biden Administration for canceling leases in NPRA, ANWR, and coastal areas in the Lower 48. SENATOR MICCICHE said he believes there is a fairness issue when companies work for decades and invest hundreds of millions of dollars to get a lease only to have an executive order suddenly stop the process at the finish line. He expressed hope that the matter would end up at the U.S. Supreme Court with a finding that once a company gets the lease, the game is over. 4:40:36 PM At ease 4:41:20 PM CHAIR REVAK reconvened the meeting. He opened public testimony on HJR 12 and stated he would start with invited testimony. 4:41:41 PM KARA MORIARTY, President and CEO, Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA), Anchorage, Alaska, stated that with passage of ANILCA in 1980, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was expanded to 19 million acres, with over 90 percent of the region permanently protected as wilderness. However, Section 1002 of ANILCA specifically states the intent for future oil and gas development on the Coastal Plain. MS. MORIARTY stressed that the oil and gas industry has an excellent decades-long record of safe, effective, and environmentally responsible development in Alaska, particularly in the Arctic. She also pointed out that development does not occur the way it did years ago and technology continues to decrease the footprint. For example, a typical oil pad on the North Slope used to be 65 to 70 acres compared to the newest drilling pads that are 12 to 14 acres. MS. MORIARTY described development of the Coastal Plain as a long-term process that will be good for the country. She predicted that the demand for oil and gas will continue for the next 30 to 40 years, and will build upon the jobs and revenues the industry has contributed to the state for decades. 4:43:50 PM SENATOR STEVENS asked what interest industry has in this area, who bid on the leases, how much, and what happens if the leases cannot be used. MS. MORIARTY replied AOGA members did not participate in the January lease sale; it was dominated by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), the State of Alaska, and small entities interested in oil and gas. However, she said this does not mean that the traditional industry players in the state do not have a long-term interest in the Coastal Plain. Negative oil prices, supply, and cash flow contributed to make 2020 a very challenging year and that continues for both small and large companies. Furthermore, there is a lot of regulatory uncertainty with the new administration. Responding to the question about what happens if the leases are not developed, she said she would need to discuss this with the Department of Interior. She concluded that development of an exploratory field like the Coastal Plain will easily take 10 to 12 years, and ANWR may come back into industry's purview in 15 years when the demand is still there. 4:47:16 PM SENATOR KAWASAKI asked exactly what Executive Order 13990 did. MS. MORIARTY answered that the Biden Administration issued three EOs within a week. One placed an indefinite moratorium on ANWR, one placed a 60-day moratorium on leases, and she did not recall what the third did. She offered to follow up with the information. SENATOR KAWASAKI summarized her response. MS. MORIARTY restated her answer and offered her perspective that it was not clear how the Biden Administration plans to do business on leasing and permitting on federal lands, but there have been strong statements about ensuring that ANWR does not move forward. 4:49:46 PM SENATOR MICCICHE asked for a brief description of the public process over the past four decades before the oil lease sale was approved. MS. MORIARTY explained that after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, an EIS process started in 2018, the record of decision came out at the end of 2020, and the lease sale was in January 2021. The process included a draft EIS, two rounds of public comment, a final EIS and the record of decision. SENATOR MICCICHE said he understands and respects environmental challenges on the use of public lands, but he sees the recent challenges as philosophically motivated rather than environmental. He asked if she would agree. MS. MORIARTY replied she believes there are challenges and opposition in both camps. Some are based on care for the environment, but there is also a growing philosophical difference about where energy the country's energy should come from and how fast it should come from different sources. CHAIR REVAK invited Rebecca Logan to provide her testimony. 4:54:00 PM REBECCA LOGAN, CEO, The Alaska Support Industry Alliance ("Alliance"), Anchorage, Alaska, stated the mission of the Alliance is to promote responsible exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and minerals for the benefit of all Alaskans. She advised that she would highlight two aspects of the written testimony she submitted. The first is that the energy sector has yet to see evidence that the dire job situation in Alaska is recovering. Alliance member companies have been severely affected since 2015. She reported that there were 15,000 jobs in the industry 11 years ago and today there are just 7,000. She emphasized that more resource development jobs are needed for Alaska to return to a healthy employment environment. MS. LOGAN stated that the Alliance strongly believes that Alaska can explore for, develop, and produce oil and gas in a more careful, safe, and environmentally sensitive manner than anyone in the world. In fact, the industry has recognized Alaska as a training ground for minimizing the impact and footprint associated with oilfield development. She cited previous development across the North Slope as proof that it is possible to develop and produce oil and gas from the Coastal Plain of ANWR with minimal impact and a small footprint. 4:56:19 PM KATIE CAPOZZI, President and CEO, Alaska Chamber of Commerce ("Alaska Chamber"), Anchorage, Alaska, thanked the committee for inviting the Alaska Chamber to testify on HJR 12. She reported their mission is to promote a positive business environment in Alaska, and as such they enthusiastically endorse HJR 12. For years the Alaska Chamber's top federal priority has been to support exploration and development of oil and gas in Alaska's federal areas and to encourage the legislature to strongly advocate for the same. Developing the 1002 area in ANWR would provide great economic opportunity for Alaska. She reported that the Alaska Chamber's statewide polling shows that a majority of Alaskans have supported opening a small portion of ANWR to oil and gas development for decades. 4:57:40 PM MARLEANNA HALL, Executive Director, Resource Development Council for Alaska (RDC), Anchorage, Alaska, stated 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 resolution describes measures to address ANILCA and the intent to preserve areas in the Coastal Plain for oil and gas development. She said this will create thousands of jobs nationwide, generate billions of dollars in government revenue for public services, and promote energy security for decades. Alaskans and the rest of the U.S. will benefit from this development. She concluded her testimony assuring the committee that the RDC membership has long supported exploration and development of oil and gas in the Coastal Plain of ANWR. 4:59:10 PM MATTHEW REXFORD, President, Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation; and Tribal Administrator, Native Village of Kaktovik, Kaktovik, Alaska, stated support for HJR 12 that opposes the designation of ANWR as a national wildlife refuge. He said Kaktovik is the only community inside the Coastal Plain area of ANWR and his testimony will reflect the anger he and his community are feeling. They want the legislature and people elsewhere in the state to be angry too. He said the Inupiat People work to resolve conflict, work together, and value humility, so to become angry is extraordinary. He continued to state the following: Last week the Washington Post published an opinion article that is a continuation of the onslaught that my community has been subjected to by the Gwich'in Steering Committee who have been trying to erase the Inupiat from the lands we have lived on for thousands of years in the name of racial justice and human rights. The article titled, "Indigenous Advocacy Transformed the Fight over Oil Drilling in the Arctic Refuge" is a slap in the face to my people. Nowhere does the article mention the Inupiat People or Kaktovik, not once. This is the same experience we had with Congress in 2019 and the introduction of the bill HR 1146 titled, "Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act" which was characterized as human rights legislation, but failed to even mention our people. It is appalling that our own U.S. Congress tried to eliminate us through legislation. In September 2020 we found that the Gwich'in Steering Committee approached the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, claiming they were racially discriminated against by the U.S. government during the Coastal Plain Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Like the Washington Post article of last week, neither HR 1146 nor the Gwich'in Steering Committee's complaint to the U.N. mentioned the Inupiat or Kaktovik. Can you imagine what this feels like to my people? And where do we get help fighting this? We're a small community of 700 people on the northern shore of Alaska. We do not have the same resources supporting us. We do not have the millions of dollars that the environmental groups provide to the Gwich'in in a clear effort to erase our existence. We are mad. We have endured being removed from our homeland many times since the 1940s when the U.S. Airforce bulldozed and forcibly moved our village, not once but two times over a time period of ten years, for a distance early warning site on Barter Island. The Kaktovik People specifically chose the current site of Kaktovik for the third and final relocation. My forefathers were subjected to iodine radiation and cold weather studies by the military in an effort to understand how we could withstand living in the harsh Arctic climate we call home. We never received an apology, reparation, or restitution for all the hardships we faced with our new neighbors. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 as amended, known as ANCSA, was supposed to allow our Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation or (KIC) the economic freedom to develop its land to benefit our community. While our leadership was the only Native group to speak out against ANCSA when the Act passed, we again tried to make it work, inviting the oil and gas industry into our community and establishing an economy that has allowed our people to flourish for decades. In fact, the only well drilled inside ANWR was drilled on KIC land. Unfortunately, our economic freedoms were short-lived and we lost those freedoms under the next piece of federal legislation, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, as amended, known as ANILCA. This Act compromises 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 the passage of ANILCA, I'm here to tell you that life has been difficult. And the federal management agency has not performed its duty to our community as required by law. We would not expect that to change if ANWR was designated a national monument. In fact, we would expect to see our rights further restricted. I want to be clear to the committee today that passage of this resolution is not going to affect or change the national opinion of ANWR. Not only if you start fighting the falsehoods that the Gwich'in Steering Committee has been so successful in presenting. My community of Kaktovik does what it can to counter the perception that the Coastal Plain is only sacred for caribou. The Coastal Plain is sacred to the Kaktovikmiut. Our ancestors are buried here and our children grow up here. To be clear, the Gwich'in Steering Committee is not a tribe. They are an advocacy group based in Fairbanks, Alaska, which is over 400 miles away from our village. It is the Inupiat who hold these lands as sacred. See the attached map for reference of distances to this testimony. This fight has been relentless and I am here today at your invitation to support your opposition in turning ANWR into a national monument. By passing HJR 12, you are supporting Kaktovik, and for our community that is important. You will have many speak on the importance of oil and gas to our national security and economy and that we need jobs. While all of that is true, until you help us fight the rhetoric that the Gwich'in Steering Committee is sowing nationally and internationally, then this joint resolution won't mean much. I implore this committee to officially recognize Kaktovik as the only community in the Coastal Plain and the Inupiat as those who have occupied it for thousands of years. But just acknowledging us is not enough. Today I ask this committee to take action to prevent further discrimination of the Kakovikmiut. I'm asking for a bill that makes it illegal for a tribe to assert false lands claims over another tribe's lands. I'm asking for a bill that makes it illegal for a tribe to assert false lands claims over another tribe's lands. Please provide us with some relief from this assault. This is our homeland and we are not going anywhere. The Kaktovik Inupiat strongly support responsible development to secure an economic future for our people. Simply pretending the Inupiat do not exist is alarming and offensive. Claiming our land belongs to another tribe should be illegal, and this committee can help. We are angry and I hope that you are now angry along with us. I request that you support HJR 12. I ask that you consider legislation that prevents other tribes from suffering at the hands of their neighbors by addressing false land claims. And I ask that you fight and then fight with the people of Kaktovik for the rights we were guaranteed so many decades ago. CHAIR REVAK thanked him for the moving testimony and requested he submit it in writing. 5:07:19 PM SENATOR MICCICHE thanked him and said his moving testimony was very well received. 5:07:53 PM CHAIR REVAK turned to public testimony on HJR 12. 5:08:32 PM BERNADETTE DEMIENTIEFF, Executive Director, Gwich'in Steering Committee, Fairbanks, Alaska, stated that there is no intention to insult the Inupiat as they have been partners, brothers, and sisters on this land for thousands of years. She explained that the Gwich'in Steering Committee does not mention the Inupiaq because they only speak for themselves, not other tribes. She said we all migrated to this land at one time and the Creator blessed the people with the land to caretake, not to see what they could get out of it. She said the animals that migrate through the Coastal Plains directly affect our way of life. They have had a cultural and spiritual connection to the Porcupine caribou herd since time immemorial. She pointed out that people who really believe that the refuge is sacred would not drill for oil on it because there is no safe way to drill. Prudhoe Bay is evidence of this. She said we are worried about the future of our children and their survival. She concluded her comments stating that "We are not going anywhere and we are not going to allow anybody into our sacred land for money." 5:11:36 PM DR. CHARLENE APOK, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, identified herself as Inupiaq. She stated she has a masters' degree in rural development and a PhD. in indigenous studies focused on circumpolar health. She said she was calling to oppose the lease sales and oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The environmental impact statements have been inadequate and government-to-government consultation has been lacking. She said corporations are not people and the people from Kaktovik have not and will not benefit if ANWR is developed. Money and profits have left the state or benefited people who are not in the Alaska Native community. DR. APOK said the poverty rates and health disparities that Alaska Natives face are a direct reflection of the inequitable development in Alaska. She agreed with the earlier statement that this is a fairness issue because proper stakeholders have not been heard or engaged. She said the health of the people is directly tied to the health of the land, and the health disparities will continue if HJR 12 goes forward. To the earlier question about whether this was a philosophical or environmental issue, she said they are the same. 5:14:02 PM BARBARA HUFF TUCKNESS, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, stated support for HJR 12. She maintained that it is a fairness issue for everyone who lives and works in Alaska. She thanked the sponsor for highlighting the important parts of the issue that should be debated throughout this process. She shared that she is a retired Teamster who worked directly and indirectly for the oil and gas industry for many years. She wants to see the economy continue to grow in a safe and environmentally productive way and she believes that honoring the lease sales and proceeding with permitting in the non-wilderness portion of ANWR is the right thing to do. 5:16:06 PM MARGI DASHEVSKY, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, stated she was calling to oppose HJR 12. She opined the resolution contains factual inaccuracies that misrepresent the anthropogenic climate change in her home state. As a lifelong Alaska she is deeply committed to diversify the economy from extractive industries. She said the calls from indigenous people has elevated the importance of tribal consultation. MS DASHEVSKY described the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) investment in state leases in ANWR as a reckless use of state funds and encouraged the legislature to develop a long term fiscal plan for the state that recognizes that oil is not the future. She concluded that transitioning from fossil fuel will bring innovation and talent to Alaska. She said HJR 12 does not speak for me, and it is not in the best interest of Alaskans. 5:18:36 PM JULIE SMYTH, representing self, Fairbanks, Alaska, stated that she is Inupiaq and she is calling to oppose HJR 12. First, she believes the resolution is a waste of state resources because everyone who receives a copy can set it aside and ignore it. The legislature's time would be better spent tending to things it does control. Second, there have been many claims that the residents of the North Slope had ample opportunity to participate in the public process and they supported these projects, but that is not what she found when she went over the BLM testimony with people from Kaktovik and Arctic Circle. In fact, just one person from each village supported any kind of change and more were opposed. Most people were present to make claims about how dishonest the government and oil companies are to make comments about the caribou and indigenous relationships as well as relationships with other animals such as whales, fish, birds, moose, musk ox, and polar bears. They questioned why there was not more research on these animals. There were also several comments on preserving the indigenous way of life. She pointed out that when the traditional way of life is not preserved, people like her grandparents will have to move into urban areas and they will need financial support from the government. 5:21:08 PM NAURI TOLER, representing self, Eagle River, Alaska, identified herself as Inupiaq. She paraphrased the third WHEREAS on page 4 that read as follows: WHEREAS the North Slope Borough, representing the residents of the North Slope, including the Alaska Native residents of the Coastal Plain and the larger North Slope area, fully participated in the public process conducted by the Bureau of Land Management in the course of developing the 2020 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision and supports the decision; and MS. TOLER referenced the testimony during the 2/5/2019 BLM draft EIS public meeting in Kaktovik and highlighted that more than just a few testifiers talked about promises that hunting would be available in the Arctic refuge but it was not. She referenced a map with areas shaded in purple where lease sales would not occur and asked why the areas down to the coastline weren't excluded to accommodate calving. She said she wants it a matter of record that she believes the EIS process was fast-tracked and given insufficient time. She only heard about the public meeting in Kaktovik the day before it happened and information was not available for review until the meeting was underway. She noted that Kaktovik residents signed petitions opposing the lease sales. One petition was signed by 61 residents. She stated for the record that she opposes oil development and she opposes HJR 12. She said the invited testimony was very one-sided and she hopes the committee understands that Mr. Rexford represents a corporation and not the community. 5:23:26 PM MAX PLICHTA, representing self, Fairbanks, Alaska, stated he is an ecologist who lives and works in the Interior and the North Slope. He urged the committee to oppose HJR 12 regarding the Coastal Plain lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the opposition to designating the refuge as a national monument. He said it has been well documented that the 1002 area has a unique and large degree of ecological diversity as opposed to other similarly sized areas in the region. He also pointed out that it is well documented that the Arctic is and will continue to be disproportionately affected by climate change. He offered his belief that since the majority of the North Slope is already open to current and future oil and gas exploration, it is appropriate to protect the 1002 area for wildlife, climate change, and future generations. 5:24:41 PM CHAIR REVAK closed public testimony on HJR 12. He urged any interested parties to submit their written testimony to the committee at sres@akleg.gov. 5:25:15 PM At ease 5:26:36 PM CHAIR REVAK reconvened the meeting and stated he would entertain amendments. 5:26:54 PM SENATOR KIEHL moved Conceptual Amendment 1. Page 2, line 29 through page 3, line 1: Delete all material CHAIR REVAK asked if there was objection. SENATOR MICCICHE commented that he was not going to object because that WHEREAS clause has no value. 5:28:08 PM CHAIR REVAK echoed the sentiment. Finding no objection, Conceptual Amendment 1 passed. 5:28:15 PM SENATOR MICCICHE moved Conceptual Amendment 2. Page 6, line 22: Delete "Scott de la Vega, Acting" Insert "Deborah Haaland," 5:28:24 PM CHAIR REVAK objected for discussion purposes. SENATOR MICCICHE explained that this reflects the current U.S. Secretary of the Interior. 5:28:57 PM CHAIR REVAK removed his objection. Finding no further objection, Amendment 2 passed. 5:29:16 PM SENATOR MICCICHE moved to report the {Senate} CS for CSHJR 12, work order 32-LS0413\I as conceptually amended, from committee with individual recommendations, attached fiscal note(s), and the authority for Legislative Legal Services to make drafting changes as needed. 5:29:39 PM CHAIR REVAK announced that without objection, SCS CSHJR 12(RES) moved from the Senate Resources Standing Committee.