4-4-12

Alaska’s Economy Is Threatened By Federal Administrative Actions and By the Alaska State Senate’s Inaction.  Below Are Today’s Examples of Both.

Comment on Federal Actions:  Congressman Doc Hastings’ (NGP Photo) office has been relentless in its effort to stop the Obama White House’s end run around Congress’ intent and authorizations.  One of the flagrant abuses of of the President’s office has been created by Executive Order without Congressional mandate or budget approval.  This presumptuous and treacherous action is misusing existing agency personnel and budgets to create a nightmarish web of new regulations and prohibitions affecting the use of our oceans, the watersheds feeding them and on-shore activity adjacent thereto.  In short, Obama would Zone America as the White House sees fit.  He plans to fully implement the plan in the next few weeks.  Combined with the Obama administration’s other assaults on Alaska’s economy, this particular initiative could signal serious if not mortal blows to Alaska’s various oil, mining, tourism and commercial fishing industries.  Thanks to the diligence of Doc Hastings, this job- economy- and freedom-killing initiative may be short-lived.  He is now attempting to forbid using federal budgets established for other purposes to be misdirected to the ocean zoning effort.  Since Alaska has most of America’s coastline, this presidential assault on free and traditional uses of our oceans and waterways would have a greater impact on Alaska than any other state or region.  Accordingly, Chairman Hastings’ labors are more beneficial to Alaska than to any other single state or region, though his own tidewater state of Washington (depending on Alaska as it does) will also be an important recipient of the Chairman’s effort.   See the Chairman’s latest actions below to defend America against Presidential overreach.  -dh

• House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter yesterday to Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (KY-05) asking that each appropriations bill include language to prohibit the use of funds for the implementation of President Obama’s ocean zoning and National Ocean Policy.
•  WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the Natural Resources Committee held an oversight field hearing Anchorage, Alaska on, “Alaska’s Sovereignty In Peril: The National Ocean Policy’s Goal to Federalize Alaska.”  The hearing focused on how President Obama’s plan to mandate ocean zoning through implementation of the National Ocean Policy threatens Alaska’s sovereignty and economic livelihood.  “Nowhere in the United States will the effects of the National Ocean Policy be felt to the extent that it will in Alaska.  The reach of this ‘ocean’ policy will stretch throughout the entire state and affect almost any activity that requires a federal permit.  As we will hear from our witnesses today, the State’s economic vitality is a direct result of our ability to use our natural resources.  Any new federal initiative that affects our ability to use these natural resources will cost jobs,” said Rep. Don Young(AK-At large).  (Complete story below.)
• House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) yesterday issued the first subpoena to the Department of the Interior for documents related to a more than year-long investigation into why an Obama Administration report that recommended a six-month drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico was edited to make it appear as though the moratorium was supported by a panel of engineering experts when in fact it was not.
• House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a new electronic lease sale tracking system for onshore federal oil and natural gas production.  “Better government efficiency is certainly positive, but the real problem over the past three years of the Obama Administration isn’t slow computers but policies that punish and discourage American-made energy on federal lands."

ADN by Richard Mauer.  JUNEAU — A new version of the Senate’s oil tax bill showed up in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, offering more money to producers when oil prices are high than the state’s current tax regime.  (Our comment on State Senate Inaction: It’s a little late to be introducing a whole new tax reform bill near the eve of adjournment.  The Senate would have been better advised to work on the tax reform bill passed by the House last year, HB 110.  Hearings will occur tomorrow and the Senate Finance Committee plans more "work" on it over the Easter weekend.  Assuming it passes the Senate, it then goes on to the House which one assumes will not concur.  That either kills the 2012 tax reform effort or results in an 11th hour, end-of-session conference committee along with a significant amount of last minute horse trading and a chaotic, unpredictable outcome.  We can only surmise that while a majority of Senators and House Members were happy to enact Alaska’s predatory and overreaching production tax after brief deliberation in 2007, Senate leadership has used "thoughtful deliberation" as an excuse for delaying action on tax reform for over two years, now.  Meanwhile the Trans Alaska Pipeline System throughput decline continues, introducing the historical specter of Nero frantically fiddling while Rome burns.   Our position: it doesn’t matter who sponsors a bill or what its number is.  What matters is that it holds promise for reversing the TAPS decline.  Last year’s House bill offers that promise.  This year’s Senate bill is, so far, the mere illusion of a promise that has consumed untold productive hours of public and private time as the production decline continues.  -dh)

Consumer Energy Alliance News Clips:

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the Natural Resources Committee held an oversight field hearing in Anchorage, Alaska on, “Alaska’s Sovereignty In Peril: The National Ocean Policy’s Goal to Federalize Alaska.”  The hearing focused on how President Obama’s plan to mandate ocean zoning through implementation of the National Ocean Policy threatens Alaska’s sovereignty and economic livelihood.

 

“Nowhere in the United States will the effects of the National Ocean Policy be felt to the extent that it will in Alaska.  The reach of this ‘ocean’ policy will stretch throughout the entire state and affect almost any activity that requires a federal permit.  As we will hear from our witnesses today, the State’s economic vitality is a direct result of our ability to use our natural resources.  Any new federal initiative that affects our ability to use these natural resources will cost jobs,” said Rep. Don Young (NGP Photo). 

 

President Obama’s National Ocean Policy calls for a new ‘ocean zoning’ authority headed by 9 Federally-dominated Regional Planning Bodies with the ability to reach as far inland as each deems necessary to protect ocean ecosystem health.  The Regional Planning Bodies will have no representation by the people, communities and businesses that will actually be impacted by the regulations and will create zoning plans without any stakeholder input.  However, all Federal agencies, the States, and the regulated industries will be bound by the plan.

 

According to Doug Vincent-Lang, Acting Director of Alaska’s Division of Wildlife Conservation of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska’s marine and coastal resources support a “vibrant fishing industry that produces almost six billion dollars in economic activity in our state annually, accounts for approximately 60 percent of the nation’s seafood production, and is our largest private sector employer.”  Testifying on behalf of the State of Alaska, Vincent-Lang emphasized the importance of Alaska’s continued management of their ocean and coastal resources to the State and local economies.  Alaska’s current regulatory framework, comprised of successful partnerships among federal, state, tribal and local authorities, “has a proven track record and is fully capable of ensuring the long-term health and viability our marine and coastal resources. … Overlaying the President’s national ocean policy on top of the existing statutory and regulatory framework creates uncertainty and conflict, both of which are problematic if the goal is to encourage economic development, jobs, and certainty in permitting.”

 

Several witnesses at the hearing discussed the potential economic ramifications of adding more bureaucratic hurdles to resource-dependent industries.  Rick Rogers, Executive Director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, stated the extra regulatory layer imposed by the National Ocean Policy “adds uncertainty and anxiety to an already cumbersome and complex regime of state and federal permitting and oversight.  Increased bureaucracy could hamper the already slow processes with no added benefit to the environment.”  Rogers noted that Alaska’s economy is dependent upon its vast natural resources and, “All Alaska industries, forestry, tourism, oil and gas, fisheries and mining, are highly dependent on ocean access and marine transportation. … The decline of the timber industry in Alaska highlights our need to be ever vigilant regarding the unintended consequences of policy initiatives such as the National Ocean Policy and Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning.”

 

Executive Director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association Kara Moriarty’s (NGP Photo) testimony focused on the economic value of continued resource development in Alaska.  “The importance of oil and gas development on Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf, to Alaska and the nation, cannot be overstated. … Alaska’s OCS is estimated to hold 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the development of which would translate into an annual average of 54,000 new jobs over 50 years, $145 billion in payroll throughout the U.S. and $193 billion in revenues to state, local and federal governments.”  Moriarty also highlighted the lack of details surrounding Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning and the policies and procedures of the Regional Planning Bodies charged with creation and implementation of the regional ocean zoning plans.  “Under the Draft Implementation Plan, stakeholders will have no direct representation on the planning bodies, despite the fact that the planning bodies are charged with creation and implementation of regional CMS plans encompassing all ocean and coastal uses.  If CMS plans are to be effective and useful tools for ocean and coastal management, we believe membership should be expanded to include representatives from stakeholder groups, including the oil and gas industry.  Without such involvement, the potential is real for prohibitions against activities such as oil and gas without the involvement of the most impacted parties.”

 

The National Ocean Policy mandates that the Regional Planning Bodies can regulate onshore activities that may have impacts on marine waters.  Fred Parady, Executive Director of the Alaska Miners Association, discussed the potential for increased lawsuits and litigation driven by third parties due to the implementation of this Policy.  “Clearly, uncertainty is heightened by the National Ocean Policy’s stated policy of reaching to onshore activities that may have impacts on marine waters.  Section 404 of clean water act and the ubiquitous nature of wetlands means upland activities already are highly regulated in Alaska. A plethora of petitions to list additional species under ESA onshore and off are adding substantial burdens to landowners and resource industries, without resulting in any recognizable progress for the underlying species. … The National Ocean Policy adds yet another another

[sic] hurdle to overcome, and will serve to provide an additional platform for third party eNGOs to litigate against projects that fail to meet the informational requirements or expectations for the National Ocean Policy.”