HOUSE TRANSPORTATION STANDING COMMITTEE March 15, 1994 5:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Richard Foster, Chair Representative Gary Davis, Vice-Chair Representative Bill Hudson Representative Jerry Mackie Representative Eldon Mulder Representative Al Vezey MEMBERS ABSENT Representative Curt Menard COMMITTEE CALENDAR SB 210: "An Act relating to disposals of state land within five miles of the right-of-way of the Dalton Highway to a licensed public utility or a licensed common carrier; relating to disposals of state land for nonresidential development in nodes of development along the Dalton Highway; requiring licensed public utilities to pay the costs of change, relocation, or removal of a utility facility due to construction of a highway project; and allowing state leases and materials sales for reconstruction and maintenance of state highways and construction or maintenance of airports." CSSB 210 MOVED OUT OF COMMITTEE HCR 12: Relating to the use of natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel in Alaska. CSHCR 12 MOVED OUT OF COMMITTEE WITNESS REGISTER SENATOR BERT SHARP Alaska State Legislature Capitol Room 514 Juneau, Alaska 99801 465-3004 Position Statement: Sponsor of CSSB 210 JILL WITTENBRADER, Staff Representative David Finkelstein Capitol Room 424 Juneau, Alaska 99801 465-2435 Position Statement: Presented CSHCR 12 for sponsor PREVIOUS ACTION BILL: SB 210 SHORT TITLE: DISPOSAL OF DALTON HWY RIGHT-OF-WAY LAND SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) SHARP; REPRESENTATIVE(S) James JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 05/05/93 2076 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S) 05/05/93 2076 (S) RESOURCES, FINANCE 02/04/94 (S) RES AT 03:30 PM BUTROVICH ROOM 205 02/04/94 (S) MINUTE(RES) 02/07/94 2718 (S) RES RPT CS 4DP 2NR NEW TITLE 02/07/94 2718 (S) ZERO FNS TO SB & CS PUBLISHED (DNR, DOT) 02/15/94 2858 (S) FIN RPT CS 4DP 2NR NEW TITLE 02/15/94 2859 (S) FISCAL NOTE TO CS PUBLISHED (DNR) 02/15/94 2859 (S) PREVIOUS ZERO FISCAL NOTE APPLIES (DOT) 02/15/94 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE ROOM 518 02/22/94 (S) RLS AT 00:00 AM FAHRENKAMP ROOM 203 02/22/94 (S) MINUTE(RLS) 02/23/94 2939 (S) 3 RULES TO CAL 1NR 2/23/94 02/23/94 2939 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME 02/23/94 2939 (S) FIN CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT 02/23/94 2940 (S) ADVANCE TO THIRD READING FLD Y9 N8 E1 A2 02/23/94 2940 (S) THIRD READING 2/24 CALENDAR 02/24/94 2960 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 210(FIN) 02/24/94 2960 (S) RETURN TO SECOND FOR AM 1 UNAN CONSENT 02/24/94 2961 (S) AM NO 1 MOVED BY KERTTULA 02/24/94 2961 (S) AM NO 1 ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT 02/24/94 2961 (S) AUTOMATICALLY IN THIRD READING 02/24/94 2961 (S) RETURN TO 2ND FOR AM 2 FLD Y10 N8 E2 02/24/94 2962 (S) PASSED Y13 N5 E2 02/24/94 2962 (S) Duncan NOTICE OF RECON SIDERATION 02/28/94 2993 (S) RECON TAKEN UP - IN THIRD READING 02/28/94 2993 (S) PASSED ON RECONSIDERATION Y12 N7 A1 02/28/94 3006 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H) 03/02/94 2566 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S) 03/02/94 2566 (H) TRANSPORTATION, FINANCE 03/02/94 2588 (H) CROSS SPONSOR(S): JAMES 03/15/94 (H) TRA AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 17 BILL: HCR 12 SHORT TITLE: USE OF NATURAL GAS IN MOTOR VEHICLES SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) FINKELSTEIN JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 03/01/93 485 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S) 03/01/93 485 (H) O&G, RESOURCES, TRA, FINANCE 04/06/93 (H) O&G AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 124 04/07/93 (H) O&G AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 124 04/07/93 (H) MINUTE(O&G) 02/14/94 (H) O&G AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 124 02/18/94 2455 (H) O&G RPT CS(O&G) 2DP 1DNP 1NR 02/18/94 2456 (H) DP: KOTT, GREEN 02/18/94 2456 (H) DNP: OLBERG 02/18/94 2456 (H) NR: G.DAVIS 02/18/94 2456 (H) -ZERO FISCAL NOTE (DEC) 2/18/94 03/04/94 2600 (H) RES RPT CS(O&G) 9DP 03/04/94 2600 (H) DP: HUDSON,CARNEY,GREEN,JAMES 03/04/94 2600 (H) DP: FINKELSTEIN,DAVIES,MULDER 03/04/94 2600 (H) DP: BUNDE, WILLIAMS 03/04/94 2600 (H) -PREVIOUS ZERO FISCAL NOTE (DEC) 2/18/94 03/04/94 (H) RES AT 08:15 AM CAPITOL 124 03/04/94 (H) MINUTE(RES) 03/15/94 (H) TRA AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 17 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 94-12, SIDE A Number 000 CHAIR FOSTER called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Number 007 SENATOR BERT SHARP introduced himself as sponsor of CSSB 210, and stated: "Under current statute, the state is prohibited from disposing of or leasing state land within five miles of the right-of-way of the Dalton Highway. The state has recently acquired several parcels of land in this area, under its land selection allocation, yet it cannot be leased or purchased. This is in spite of the fact that the previous owner (federal BLM) did lease parcels in these areas. "In the summer of 1992, Summit Telephone Company applied to the Alaska Public Utilities Commission for certification to provide telephone service to Coldfoot and Wiseman. BLM assured them that they would not have any problems obtaining a long term lease for a central switching office and 60 foot radio tower in Coldfoot. Upon receiving certification from APUC, Summit immediately went to BLM to obtain the land. They were told that the land surrounding Coldfoot had been transferred to the State of Alaska, and they would have to apply to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to obtain land in Coldfoot. "The DNR informed Summit Telephone that there could be no leasing or sale of land in the Coldfoot area, because such disposal was prohibited by statute. Also included in the land transfer was the transfer to the state of existing leaseholds and pending leasehold applications. The state is unable to renew existing leases as they expire or to consider new applications, or accommodate legitimate state needs. Besides the Summit Telephone application, there are existing leases, some of which are at Coldfoot to Petro Star, Inc., for a 33-acre parcel and a Uncal staging area at Franklin Bluffs. There are several other applications pending. "The DNR has testified that the lands involved and subject to leasing or sale are located in areas where such activity is presently allowed. Those are the five mile Yukon River Crossing, Coldfoot-Wiseman and the Happy Valley-Franklin Bluffs areas and Deadhorse. Senate Bill 210 would modify this ban and allow the DNR to lease land for nonresidential development. This would enable telephone service, airport and highway maintenance activities to proceed, as well as public service needs. I urge your favorable vote on this legislation. Thank you." SENATOR SHARP brought to the committee's attention an amendment which was made on the Senate floor by he and Senator Kerttula which provides that the state will not pay for any utility relocation in the highway right-of-way; any utility getting a lease in that area is on notice that any future relocation will be at their expense. He commented that this had been a concern of Senator Kerttula's. Number 129 REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON asked Senator Sharp if there was a letter of intent accompanying CSSB 210. Number 135 SENATOR SHARP responded in the negative, stating that the only action was the amendment on the Senate floor. Number 139 REPRESENTATIVE MULDER moved that CSSB 210 be moved from the House Transportation Committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. Number 144 CHAIR FOSTER asked if there were any objections. There were none, and CSSB 210 was declared moved from committee. CHAIR FOSTER thanked Senator Sharp. Number 149 MS. JILL WITTENBRADER was introduced as staff to Representative Finkelstein, sponsor of CSHCR 12. On his behalf, she stated that Representative Finkelstein felt it would be beneficial to have this resolution, since Alaska has a good natural gas resource base, and both state and federal governments have been pushing the use of natural gas vehicles. She asked if there were any questions. Number 164 REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY stated that he didn't really have any questions, but he wondered what the sponsor was trying to accomplish with this piece of legislation. More specifically, he added, his question was "why?" Number 170 MS. WITTENBRADER responded that the bill was simply an effort to show that Alaska is interested in pursuing the development of its natural gas resources and the development of natural gas vehicles. Number 182 REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY wondered aloud if anything could really be done to encourage the use of natural gas resources and natural gas vehicles. Number 192 MS. WITTENBRADER replied that currently the municipality of Anchorage is attempting to get a fueling station for natural gas vehicles, and in order to get a fueling station, private industry would need some incentive to put one in, which is the objective of the resolution. Number 200 REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY commented that the zero fiscal note, and the bill itself, is an empty gesture. He added that it would be more appropriate to have a bill with a fiscal note, recognizing that we need to do something. Number 225 MS. WITTENBRADER responded that, currently, the municipality of Anchorage has one fueling station and is working on developing another with the possibility of getting federal funding to do so. Number 236 REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY stated that the sponsor is putting him in the position of being a hypocrite, and questioned if we really mean we support the building of an infrastructure if we're not willing to pay for it. Number 240 MS. WITTENBRADER responded that there was no current effort to obtain the funding, since there was a possibility that private industry would be willing to build the infrastructure. She added that there was also a good possibility of getting federal money. Number 243 REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE moved that CSHCR 12 be moved from House Transportation with a zero fiscal note and individual recommendations. Number 245 CHAIR FOSTER asked if there were any objections. Representative Vezey objected. Chair Foster asked for a roll call, and all present members but Representative Vezey voted to move the bill, so CSHCR 12 was declared moved from committee with individual recommendations. Number 255 CHAIR FOSTER adjourned the meeting at 5:15 p.m.