State will charge for use of the GMC

As one of a couple of bills signed by Gov. Bill Walker on June 23 to increase state revenues, Senate Bill 170, authorizing Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Services to set and collect fees for the use of the Geologic Materials Center in Anchorage, has become law.

“With a $4 billion budget deficit, we must leave no stone unturned as we look for new ways to fund state government,” Walker said at the time of the bill signing. “I thank Senator Giessel for bringing this legislation forward, and for finding new ways to reduce the draw on unrestricted general funds.”

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources operates the center in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The center contains a major archive and library of Alaska rock samples and holds an almost complete collection of core and drill-cutting samples from oil and gas wells drilled in Alaska and on the Alaska outer continental shelf. The collection at the center also includes numerous microscope slides from well samples and many thousands of rock samples from the mining industry.

Under the new legislation the division can collect fees for the rental of space for confidential sample storage; the rental of sample viewing facilities; the retrieval, processing or sampling of geological material; the use of equipment in the center; and for analyses, maps, reports, data or other products authorized by the division. There is a provision to allow the waiving of some fees for the use of the center by students for educational purposes.

- ALAN BAILEY