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Admin proposes DNR permitting changes Department has been working on streamlining since 2011; DMLW says bill, along with regulatory changes, will help reduce backlog Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has been working on streamlining permitting procedures and Gov. Sean Parnell has submitted a bill which would make statutory changes the department has identified as needed for efficiency.
The proposed legislation, House Bill 77 and Senate Bill 26, would make changes in the Alaska Land Act and the Alaska Water Use Act.
The governor has also proposed legislation to give Alaska state primacy over dredge and fill activities in state waters and wetlands, and a bill to authorize the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to provide financing and issue bonds for a liquefied natural gas production system and a natural gas distribution system.
In his transmittal letter for the DNR permitting changes, the governor said the goal of the legislation is to provide Alaskans with “more timely, consistent permitting decisions.”
The bill is accompanied by zero fiscal notes from DNR’s Division of Mining, Land and Water and the Department of Fish and Game.
“The bill will either create efficiencies or prevent inefficiencies which will allow the Division of Mining, Land and Water to re-allocate staff time to other permits and authorizations thus helping to reduce the backlog,” Director Brent Goodrum said in the division’s fiscal note, characterizing the statutory changes as “intended to continue progress made to the State of Alaska’s permitting processes to ensure projects are permitted in a more timely, predictable and efficient manner while safeguarding the environment.”
Goodrum said regulatory changes would be required to conform to language changes in the legislation and said DNR anticipates it would take two years from passage of the statutory changes for all regulatory changes to be adopted.
The backlog DNR Commissioner Dan Sullivan talked about the need for permitting changes in May 2011.
He said the department has been working on identifying the permitting challenges, and noted that permitting became a big issue in the 2011 legislative session, when DNR described to legislators a backlog of about 2,500 permits in the Division of Mining, Land and Water.
Incremental funding from the Legislature allowed the division to add new positions and fill ones that were vacant.
In September 2011 DNR began asking for public feedback in streamlining the permit process. The department said that the governor had requested three departments — DNR, Fish and Game and Environmental Conservation — to evaluate their permitting processes for efficiency improvements.
Areas for public comment included: large projects, small projects within coastal zones, federal permitting, legal challenges and permit backlog.
In 2012 the Legislature passed HB 361, which made changes to the Alaska Land Act relating to the disposal of state land and materials, expanding options for the method of sale. In the division’s fiscal note the legislation was described as “intended to increase efficiency, certainty and timeliness of DNR’s land permitting, leasing, mining and land sales programs to permitting applicants.”
Primacy for permitting The governor has also submitted bills authorizing the state to assume primacy for administering permitting under the Clean Water Act for dredge and fill activities allowed to states under federal law, HB 78 and SB 27.
“The current federal process has resulted in a large number of projects in Alaska being subject to an expensive and bureaucratic federal permitting system and litigation, delaying and restricting opportunities for Alaskans,” the governor said in his transmittal letter.
The legislation would provide authority to develop and implement state primacy of dredge and fill activities in waters and wetlands within the state in accordance with the Clean Water Act.
“The bill is part of a comprehensive financial package relating to the Interior Energy Plan, a strategy that includes low interest loans, gas storage tax credits, and general fund dollars for a moveable liquefaction plant and distribution system,” the governor said.
The gas storage tax credits have already been enacted into law, the governor said, and general fund dollars will be part of budget deliberations, while HB 74 and SB 23 authorize AIDEA to provide up to $275 million in financing.
HB 58, by Reps. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, Doug Isaacson, R-North Pole and Pete Higgins, R-Fairbanks, is also a bill authorizing AIDEA to finance or participate in financing a North Slope LNG facility not to exceed $275 million.
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