C-plan process, air permitting, ACMP, top AOGA’s wish list

Ken Donajkowski, speaking for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, tells House Special Committee on Oil and Gas that industry is encouraged by steps the Murkowski administration is taking to streamline and reform permitting

Kristen Nelson

PNA Editor-in-Chief

What would the Alaska Oil and Gas Association like to see the Legislature tackle this session? "Anything to do with the C-plan review and approval process, the air permitting and the coastal zone management.

"Those are the three priorities that the Alaska Oil and Gas Association has identified for permit streamlining," says Ken Donajkowski, manager of health, safety and environment for ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. Donajkowski was one of the speakers at an AOGA presentation Feb. 20 to the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas.

He reviewed some of the industry's environmental practices, mentioned some positive signs the industry has received from the administration in the area of permitting change and talked about other changes which the industry would find helpful.

Donajkowski noted that the industry in Alaska is both mature and progressive in the environmental area, with production from Cook Inlet for more than 40 years and from the North Slope for more than 25 years.

"The environmental standards that have been adopted by the state of Alaska and the environmental practices adopted by the industry through these years have resulted in Alaska being recognized as a model for oil and gas development, not only in North America, but also throughout the world," he told the committee. Industry has developed new technologies, he said, and the challenge now is not "environmental standards — those are established — and they are the baseline from which we operate."

The challenge now, he said, "is to update and reenergize" the process by which "state statutes and regulations are implemented."

Some positive signs

The Murkowski administration has established a strong position on oil and gas permitting, he said, and noted that industry strongly supports the administration's bill to extend the renewal period for oil spill contingency plans from three years to five years. The administration is taking other steps to address permitting, including consolidation of functions and program reforms, Donajkowski said.

DEC working new regulations

DEC has also taken steps to improve C-plan review and approval, and "is preparing a regulatory package that it says will address a multitude of additional deficiencies identified by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association."

Donajkowski also said AOGA was encouraged when DEC Commissioner Ernesta Ballard decided against using a stakeholder process to develop pending regulations on C-plans, and decided instead to rely on agency expertise to develop the regulations, which will then go out for public comment. He said the Department of Natural Resources is working with industry "on ways to upgrade technology and science applied to evaluating the tundra for winter season openings."

What else needed

In addition to the proposed legislation extending the renewal period for oil spill contingency plans, AOGA hopes there will be legislation to "reforming the Alaska Coastal Zone Management Process." The association would also like, he said, to see an "overhaul of the air permitting process." Some of the changes coming out of the recent workgroup will need to be implemented by the Legislature, he said.

In general, AOGA would like to see specific criteria applied to any legislation and regulations: a "clear and definite" process time; an obligation for the applicable agency to take timely action; and a process that "can be flowcharted at a relatively simple level, providing predictability t the applicant."

And, Donajkowski said, "it is imperative that the resource agency commissioners hold their personnel accountable for adhering to the administration's objectives for the state." This requires both standard operating procedures for staff and management oversight, he said.