Alaska Senate passes three minor oil and gas bills, two aiding Bristol Bay sale

Larry Persily

Petroleum News Juneau correspondent

Without objection, the Alaska Senate has passed three of the governor’s oil and gas bills aimed at moving ahead with plans for a 2005 Bristol Bay lease sale and also expediting pre-application work for oil and gas pipeline right-of-way applicants.

The Senate voted Feb. 25 to pass and send to the House for its consideration:

• Senate Bill 264, to authorize the Department of Natural Resources to negotiate reimbursement agreements with pipeline right-of-way applicants. The intent is that by paying the department for pre-application reviews, applicants could avoid delays in the state’s final review of permit applications.

The bill extends a program already in place.

• Senate Bill 266, to close certain lands in the Bristol Bay region to oil and gas exploration licensing and shallow gas leasing to hold back the acreage for the administration’s planned, large-scale competitive lease sale in the area.

• Senate Bill 265, to allow the Department of Natural Resources to get started a year earlier on preparing a report to lawmakers on proposed oil and gas lease sales.

The measure would amend requirements for the state’s five-year oil and gas leasing program to allow adding potential competitive sales to the schedule each year instead of only every other year. The practical effect is that the bill would allow the department to start work sooner on potential Bristol Bay leases.

The three bills are among more than 40 oil and gas measures introduced this year and left over from last year, and still alive in the final 10 weeks of the legislative session that is scheduled to end May 12.