The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission plans to mail out notices of its proposed fiscal year 2001 regulatory cost charge Sept. 5 and to hold a hearing on the proposed charges Oct. 17. These dates are not yet official -- the commission will publish a public notice for a comment period and the hearing once it has received final fiscal year 2000 spending numbers from the state. <p>
The amount the commission includes in its regulatory cost charge is the Legislature's authorized budget amount for the fiscal year, minus a federal program grant, minus the expected amount from drilling permits and minus any amount remaining from the previous fiscal year's budget. The commission said it expected to have final spending figures from the state by Sept. 5. <p>
At an Aug. 30 meeting, Commissioners Dan Seamount and Cammy Taylor also voted to increase the amount deducted from the cost charge for an estimated number of drilling permits to be issued in the fiscal year from $10,000 (based on an earlier estimate of 100 permits) to $15,000 (based on 150 wells) because of increased activity. <p>
The regulatory cost charge is billed to Alaska oil and gas field operators. Estimated amounts for the first quarter have already been billed. <p>