|
Oil tax Ballot Measure 1 failing; Alaska loses ANWR border fight
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
As Petroleum News went to press Thursday morning Nov. 12, Ballot Measure 1, the proposed oil tax increase pushed by attorney Robin Brena, continues to fail by a significant margin, while the U.S. Presidential election might not be decided until recounts are final and court challenges have been resolved nationwide.
There were an unusual number of Alaskans who voted early or by mail this year due to COVID-19 concerns - 156,000 people, which represents 45% of all ballots cast in the 2020 election.
Both Republican President Donald Trump and Alaska’s Republican congressional incumbents Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young are holding on to significant leads, despite their challengers hoping mail-in and early voters would increase their Nov. 3 totals.
By Wednesday night Nov. 11, Alaska’s Division of Elections had released more results that didn’t significantly alter the outcome of either race. Approximately 60,000 votes were left to count.
Down by more than 29 percentage points on Election Day, Ballot Measure 1’s tax increase still trailed by nearly 20 points after more absentee and early vote counts were released by the Division of Elections Nov. 11.
Those new results told a different story for Ballot Measure 2, the election process change proposal that was so heavily funded by big money from Outside Alaska. Behind by 13 percentage points on Election Day, on the morning of Nov. 12 it trailed by only about 3 points.
All judges on the ballot looked as though they would be retained.
Counting the remainder of the ballots was to resume on Nov. 12, as Petroleum News went to press.
State loses latest ANWR border challenge In the latest round of the State of Alaska’s fight with the federal government for ownership of 19,322 acres along the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Department of the Interior Board of Land Appeals ruled against the state on Nov. 9. The ruling was based on an appeal filed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Mining, Land and Water, protesting the 2016 decision of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.
“We find that Appellant has not met its burden to demonstrate error in the appealed Decisions or in BLM’s performance of the surveys underlying those Decisions. Therefore, pursuant to the authority delegated to the Board of Land Appeals by the Secretary of the Interior, we affirm BLM’s February 2016 Decision and November 2016 Decision,” wrote IBLA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals in its 52-page decision.
The decision was signed by Acting Administrative Judges Matthew T. Ballenger and Amy B. Sosin.
The disputed acreage lies between the Canning and Staines rivers, which flow northward along the western side of ANWR into the Arctic Ocean. The land is highly prospective for oil and gas and is a high priority area for the state.
While DNR’s Division of Oil and Gas includes the disputed acreage in its areawide lease sales, leaseholders are warned that parts of their leases are in a disputed area.
Marty Parsons, director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water, told Petroleum News in 2018 that if the agency’s effort to resolve the dispute was not successful, the next step would be federal court (see DMLW’s current position in next week’s Petroleum News).
- KAY CASHMAN
| 