Posted on 02/23/2005 12:48:50 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
WASHINGTON--Gov. Frank Murkowski has repeated his warning that Alaska could start selling oil leases off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastline, even if Congress doesn't allow drilling within the refuge.
State records show, though, that the state has already offered the area with little response from oil companies.
Murkowski first warned Congress about a year ago that he planned to offer leases in state waters just north of the refuge boundary.
Then, earlier this month, he alluded briefly to the idea again when testifying before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce.
"I would also like to point out to the committee that the state of Alaska has the jurisdiction three miles off ANWR, so the entire coastline three miles out," Murkowski said.
He then noted that the state has "waited patiently" for Congress to open ANWR.
Later, Murkowski filled out his thoughts on the subject during a meeting with reporters in a conference room in the Hall of the States, where the state of Alaska maintains an office.
"I think it's fair to say that the state is not going to stand idly by forever, and that's the statement I basically made today" to the subcommittee, Murkowski said.
Last March, Murkowski delivered the same message in a news conference called a few doors down at the American Gas Association's office in the Hall of the States. Murkowski said then that he hoped to hold a lease sale in the fall of 2004.
The state did so, just as it had for the past several years. But it received no bids in the waters offshore of ANWR, according to information online from the state Division of Oil and Gas. That mirrored the previous year's results.
Asked about that during the news conference this month, Murkowski acknowledged that the state was having trouble generating oil company interest in his plan.
"We've have had some discussions about lease interests and we've had some preliminary proposals," he said, "but obviously the interest (by oil companies) is to wait for a determination of ANWR onshore (by Congress)."
That hesitancy arises "because of the logistic reality that anything that would take place offshore would have to move laterally west to connect to state land outside of the ANWR area," Murkowski said. That means an expensive offshore pipeline north of the refuge.
The state's five-year oil and gas leasing plan, issued last month, proposes to continue each fall to offer the entire strip of state-owned waters from the Canada border to Barrow. ANWR lies below the eastern end of that long thin strip.
Reporters asked Murkowski whether opposition from North Slope villagers to leasing in state waters might pose a problem. The governor said he believed that with safeguards, such as a ban on drilling during the bowhead whale migration season, most people would accept the leasing.
Lon Sonsalla, mayor of Kaktovik, said Monday that he disagreed. "My understanding of the people here is that they're still opposed to any offshore," Sonsalla said. Kaktovik lies on Barter Island on the northern edge of ANWR and is the only village within the refuge's coastal plain. A majority of residents have backed drilling on land in ANWR.
Washington, D.C., reporter Sam Bishop can be reached at (202) 662-8721 or sbishop@newsminer.com .
GO FOR IT!!!!!!!
It is time for ANWR !!!!!!
The last I heard is that Alaska is still part of the USA, OUR LAND, OUR OIL......GO FOR IT.....
Another Clinton legacy item is coming to bear with his near dismantling of US domestic oil drilling.
I saw on the news this morning that oil prices will spike to around $60 per barrel this spring, and that the days of sub $30 oil prices are over!
I want to see the Dems try and hold the line against domestic oil drilling when the american public is paying $2.50 a gallon for gasoline!
It's freakin fraud.
While I support drilling, if you try to sell something, but you can't deliver, it's fraud.
Congress might try (whether it has authority or not) to give a contract to someone else.
Can you explain what you think is fraud?
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