A House Joint Resolution was presented to the Alaska House of Representatives Monday urging the United States Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management to honor the recent lease sales and to proceed with permitting in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
House Joint Resolution 12 would urge President Joe Biden to defend the 2020 Record of Decision approving the Coastal Plain Oil and as Leasing Program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, opposing designation of ANWR as a National Monument and urge the Alaska delegation in Congress to uphold sec. 20001 of the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act of 2017, which requires the Secretary of the Interior to establish and administer a competitive oil and gas program for the leasing, development, and production of oil and gas in, and the transportation of oil and gas from the ANWR coastal plain.
House District 40 Rep. Josiah Patkotak spoke on the House Floor on Monday, “My family, like many in the arctic, can tie their roots to the coastal plains of ANWR where my grandpa was born. To echo something I heard during public testimony of HJR 12 in the resources committee, I’m paraphrasing, words from my distant cousin, the general public tends to put priority over everything but the actual people that live in the area when they discuss something like ANWR. I guess, just supporting something like HJR 12, the mechanics of it is what it does to the local economy and the macro economy of the whole state, gives the ability to a rural community like Kaktovik to become more self sustainable. It helps the local municipality provide for life, help and safety services for the whole region, and in general, it would help the Alaskan economy; opportunities that we have to continue to show our strength in a responsible development environment as far as having some of the most stringent policies regarding oil and gas development. We want to continue that.”
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act requires at least two least sales be held by December 22, 2024. Each sale is to offer for lease, at least 400,000 acres of land with the highest hydrocarbon potential in the coastal plain, allowing for up to 2,000 acres of federal land, which is the equivalent to .01% of the 19,000,000-acre refuge, to be covered by production and support facilities. According to HJR 12, the 1002 study area of the coastal plain of ANWR makes up less than 8% and development of oil and gas reserves would affect a limited area, as defined by Congress.
The Resolution passed the Alaska House of Representatives 35 to 3 with two excused absences. More on HJR 12 can be seen here.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.
