SESSION OF 2002

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 5040

As Recommended by House Committee on

Utilities

Brief

       HCR 5040 would urge the United States Congress to open the Arctic Coastal Plain area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for the exploration and development of oil and gas production, requiring the use of the best available technology in a manner that safeguards the environment.

Background

       HCR 5040 was recommended by the Interim Committee on Utilities after reviewing the national energy plan proposed by the Bush Administration. The Interim Committee had reviewed oil supply forecasts and future energy needs. One of the security needs identified in the national energy plan was to allow United States oil requirements to be less reliant on foreign imports. The President's National Energy Policy calls for opening the Arctic Coastal Plain area of ANWR to oil and gas exploration and production in a manner that will result in no significant adverse environmental impact.

       ANWR was established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which prohibited oil and gas exploration and production in the Arctic Coastal Plain area of ANWR until authorized by Congress. In 1987, the United States Department of the Interior, after five years of biological and geological studies, recommended that Congress authorize the leasing of the Arctic Coastal Plain area of ANWR for oil and gas exploration and production. In 1995, Congress passed authorizing legislation which was subsequently vetoed. The United States Geological Survey estimates the total technically recoverable oil resources of the Arctic Coastal Plain area of ANWR to be between 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels, with a mean value of 7.7 billion barrels, and the total in-place oil resources of the area to be 11.6 to 31.5 billion barrels, with a mean value of 20.7 billion barrels.

       Proponents of the HCR 5040—the Kansas Petroleum Council and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry—argued that ANWR's geographical position of being more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle makes it an inhospitable area where the winter lasts for nine months. The Kansas Petroleum Council mentioned that a group of local citizens, called Arctic Power, support exploration and production in the area because it provides a tax base for their local government. Opponents to the bill—the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club—argued that sending such a resolution would pit the wishes of one state against the wishes of another (Alaska), that oil production would introduce undo risk into the area's environment, and that the bill only promotes a short-term solution to the problems of the United States being too dependent on foreign oil.

       No fiscal note for HCR 5040 is available.

       Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet http://www.kslegislature.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi