Resolution in support of ANWR energy development.

WORKING DRAFT

ORIGINAL HOUSE
JOINT RESOLUTION
NO.
0001

ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 2, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2012 BUDGET SESSION

A JOINT RESOLUTION u
rging the United States Congress to pass legislation to
open
specified areas of
the coastal plain of the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration
, development and production.

WHEREAS,
t
he Legislature of the State of Wyoming supports the efforts of the State of Alaska to open a portion of the
Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration and development;
and

WHEREAS, in 16 U.S.C. 3142 (sec. 1002 of the A
laska National Interest Lands
Conservation Act (ANILCA)), the United States Congress reserved the right to permit further oil and gas exploration, development and production within
the coastal plain of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge; and

WHEREAS
,
the oil industry, the state
of Alaska
, and the United State
s Department of the
Interior consider the coastal plain to have the highest potential f
or discovery of very large oil
and gas accumulations on the continent of North America, estimated to be as much as
ten
b
illion four hundred
million
(
10,400,000
,000
)
barrels of recoverable oil; and

WHEREAS
,
oil and gas exploration and development of the coastal plain o
f the refuge
and adjacent land could result in major discoveries that would reduce our nation's futur
e need
for imported oil, help balance the nation's trade deficit and signi
ficantly increase the nation's
security; and

WHEREAS
,
the nation
's future energy indep
endence would be enhanced with
additional natural gas production from the North Slope of Alaska,
including what is
expected to be
significant gas reserves in the Arctic Na
tional Wildlife Refuge, and the
development of those reserves would enhance the economic viability of the proposed Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline; and

WHEREAS
,
demand for
domestic
oil continues to rise while domestic crude production continues to fall, with the result that the United States imports additional oil from foreign sources; and

WHEREAS
,
development of oil at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endi
cott, Lisburne, Ooguruk, Alpine
and Milne Point has resulted in thousands of jobs throughout the United States, and projected job creation as a result of coastal plain
oil development will have a
positive effect in all
fifty (
50
)
states; and

WHEREAS
,
Prudhoe Bay production is declining, and
the Trans-
Alaska Pipeline
System is operating at only one-third
(1/3)
of
its 1988 peak throughput; and

WHEREAS
,
the Trans-
Alaska Pipeline System, a transportation facility that is a national asset and that would cost billions of dollars to replace, would ha
ve its useful physical
life extended for a substantial period if the additional reserves of recoverable oil from the coastal plain were produced; and

WHEREAS, while new oil field developments on the North Slope of Alaska, such as Alpin
e, Northstar, Lisburne, Ooguruk
and West Sak, may temporarily slow the decline in production, only giant coastal plain fields have the theoretical capability of increasin
g the
production volume of Alaska oil to a significant degree; and

WHEREAS
,
opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now allows sufficient time for planning environmental safeguards, development and national security review; and

WHEREAS
,
the
one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000)
acre coastal plain of
the refuge makes up only eight
percent
(8%)
of the
nineteen million (
19,000,000
)
acre refuge, and the development of the oil and gas reserves i
n the
refuge's coastal plain would affect an area of
two thousand (
2,000
)
acres or less, which is less than one-half of one percent
(0.5%)
of the area of the co
astal plain; and

WHEREAS
,

eight million nine hundred thousand (
8,900,000
)
of the
nineteen million (
19,000,000
)
acres of the refuge have already been set
aside as wilderness; and

WHEREAS
,
the oil industry has shown at Prudhoe Bay, as well as at other locations along the Arctic coastal plain, that it is capable of conducting oil and gas activity wi
thout
adversely affecting the environment or
wildlife populations; and

WHEREAS
,
the Central Arctic Caribou herd has increased f
rom
five thousand (
5,000
)
animals in
1975 to over
sixty-six thousand (
66,000
)
animals in recent years, despite oil exploration, development and production at Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk; and

WHEREAS
,
the state
of Alaska
is committed
to

ensuring
the continued health and productivity of the

Porcupine Caribou herd and the Central Arctic Caribou herd, an
d the protection of land, water
and other wildlife resources during the exploration and development of the coasta
l
plain of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge; and

WHEREAS
,
the oil and gas industry is developing directi
onal drilling technology that
will allow horizontal drilling in a responsible manner thereby mini
mizing the development
footprint within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and this directional drilling technology may be capable of drilling from outside of the boundari
es of the 1002 study area; and

WHEREAS
,
the oil industry is using innovative technology and environmental practices in the new field developments at Alpine and Northstar, and those techniques
are directly
applicable to operating on the coastal plain a
nd would enhance environmental
protection beyond t
raditionally high standards.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
:

Section 1
.

That
the Legislature
of the State of Wyoming
supports the State
of Alaska
in urging
the United States Congress to pass legislation to open the
s
ection 1002 study area of the
coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife R
efuge to
oil and gas
exploration, development
and production, and that the
Wyoming
State Legislature is adamantly opposed to further wilderness or other restrictive
designation in the area of the
coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
.

Section 2
. T
hat
the Legislature
of the State of Wyoming supports the State of Alaska

in urging
that
energy exploration and production activities
be conducted
in a manner that protects the
environment and the naturally occurring population levels of the Porcupine Caribou herd
and
the Central Arctic Caribou herd on which the Gwich'in and other local residents depend,
that
uses directional drilling and other advances in technology to
minimize the development
footprint in the 1002 study area
.

Section 3
. T
hat the
Legislature of the State of Wyoming supports the State of Alaska
in opposing any unilatera
l

reduction in royalty revenue from exploration and development of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any attempt to coerce the State of Alaska into accep
ting
less than the
ninety
percent
(90%)
of the oil, gas and mineral royalties from the federal land in Alaska that was promised to the
S
tate
of Alaska
at statehood.

Section
4
. That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of
the United States
Congress,

to the Wyoming Congressional Delegation
and to the
Senate
President
and
to
the Speaker of the
House
of the Alaska State Legislature
.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk

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