[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 24 (Thursday, February 12, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Sullivan):
  S. 494. A bill to authorize the exploration, leasing, development, 
production, and economically feasible and prudent transportation of oil 
and gas in and from the Coastal Plain in Alaska; to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise, along with my colleague Senator 
Sullivan, to introduce a bill to open a small portion of the arctic 
coastal plain, in my home State of Alaska, to oil and gas development. 
I am introducing this bill today because I strongly believe that 
whether oil and gas exploration should be conducted on a small portion 
of the coastal plain is a question for Congress; not one for unilateral 
action by Federal agency.
  The 1.5 million acres of the Arctic coastal plain that lie within the 
non-wilderness portion of the 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge are North America's greatest prospect for conventional onshore 
production. When Prudhoe Bay, the largest conventional oil field in 
North America and one of the 20 largest fields in the world was 
discovered in 1968, estimates at the time projected 9.6 billion barrels 
of oil would be recovered. The U.S. Geological Survey continues to 
estimate that this part of the coastal plain has a mean likelihood of 
containing 10.4 billion barrels of oil and 8.6 trillion cubic feet of 
natural gas, as well as a reasonable chance of economically producing 
16 billion barrels of oil. With potential comparable to Prudhoe Bay, 
the coastal plain represents an opportunity to ensure the American 
energy renaissance continues and our domestic energy security is 
bolstered for decades to come.
  Alaska used to provide that foundation for our country. At its peak 
in 1988, Alaska provided nearly 25 percent of America's domestic 
production. Today it represents barely 6 percent. Importantly, despite 
the Federal government owning almost 70 percent of the lands in Alaska, 
almost all of our oil production is from State lands. The people of 
Alaska are doing everything they can to contribute to America's energy 
security by promoting production from State lands. In the past two 
years the State of Alaska has passed oil tax reforms, improved State 
permitting and provided more than $1.2 billion in State tax credits to 
support the exploration and development of oil from State lands. The 
only production on federal estate comes from the Northstar project, a 
small man-made island that straddles state and federal waters in the 
Beaufort Sea.
  For more than 30 years, my State has successfully balanced resource 
development with environmental protection. Alaskans have proven, over 
and over again, that these endeavors are not mutually exclusive, and 
with advances in technology, the footprint of development projects is 
only getting smaller. Yet as the Federal level, there is an astonishing 
refusal to acknowledge the record.
  With new exploration and development projects on Federal lands 
stalled or outright blocked, Alaska faces a tipping point. The Trans-
Alaska Pipeline System, an engineering marvel that has served as one of 
America's great energy arteries for decades is facing more and more 
challenges from lower throughput. A closure of TAPS would shut down all 
northern Alaska oil production, devastating Alaska's economy and 
deepening our dependence on unstable petrostates throughout the world. 
Exploration and development in the Arctic offshore and National 
Petroleum Reserve Alaska depend on the long-term viability of the 
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
  The bill I introduce today, would disturb no more than 2,000 acres of 
the vast coastal plain. To put this in perspective, 2,000 acres is less 
than \1/6\ the size of the local Dulles Airport, or about \1/10\ of 1 
percent of the refuge. Since these areas are less than 60 miles from 
TAPS, development in the Coastal Plain is the quickest, most 
environmentally sound way to increase oil production in Alaska and 
ensure the pipeline will operate well into the future, providing jobs 
and supporting the economies of both Alaska and the United States.
  The bill includes strong protection for fish and wildlife, fish and 
wildlife habitat, subsistence resources, and the environment. 
Development would not move forward if it would cause significant 
adverse impacts to the coastal plain. The bill also ensures these 
protections are strong because it provides for strict consultation with 
the residents of the coastal plain; the City of Kaktovik as well as the 
regional government, the North Slope Borough. The bill also provides 
important impact aid to the local communities from the State's share of 
revenues due to it under the Mineral Leasing Act and Alaska's Statehood 
Act.
  As we continue to struggle with long-term unemployment, and an 
unsustainable national debt, we need to pursue development 
opportunities more than ever. The shale oil and gas boom on 2 state and 
private lands in the Lower 48 has been the shining light as our economy 
struggles to recover from the recession. My bill offers us a chance to 
produce more of our own energy, for the good of the American people, in 
an environmentally-friendly way and with the meaningful impact of the 
local people.
  For decades, Alaskans, whom polls show overwhelmingly support 
development of the coastal plain, have been asking permission to 
explore and develop the resources located there. Consistent with the 
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, ANILCA, the state of 
Alaska recently submitted a plan to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
to conduct minimal exploration activities in the coastal plain and was 
rejected. Despite the fact that the State was in court presenting its 
case, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released an updated Plan for 
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that puts areas like the Coastal 
Plain in de facto wilderness status as Wilderness Study Areas.
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states that they did not consider 
an oil and gas alternative, as requested by the State of Alaska, North 
Slope Borough, various Alaska Native Regional and Village Corporations 
as well as a broad spectrum of Alaskans, because they stated that the 
decision to conduct oil and gas development is one for Congress to 
make. I hope this Congress will rise to that challenge and have the 
common sense to allow America to help itself by developing a small 
portion of the coastal plain. This is critical to my State and the 
nation as a whole and one more step we can take to push back against 
the unilateral executive actions that are threatening our economy and 
very system of government.
  With this in mind, Senator Sullivan and I will work to educate 
members of this chamber about the opportunity we have and the 
tremendous benefits it would provide. We will show why such development 
should occur--why it must occur--and how it can benefit all of us and 
help secure our energy security for decades to come.
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