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Ulmer would do comprehensive audit to resolve permitting issues Lieutenant governor tells Resource Development Council she would have permitting system audited by independent organization Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer said March 7 that if she were in a position to do so, she would “conduct a comprehensive audit of the permitting system in the state of Alaska.”
Ulmer told the Resource Development Council that the administration is working with the Legislature to resolve the petition process which held up the coastal zone consistency determination process earlier in the season, and on defining best available technology for consistency determinations.
The administration, she said, is working “cooperatively to get those issues resolved in a way that really works now as opposed to someday in the future, for the many developments that we hope that our oil partners will be proceeding with over the next few months and years.”
Ulmer said the administration is also trying to get funding from the Legislature for an e-commerce system for the Division of Oil and Gas. That would allow more than 30,000 pages of information to be transmitted electronically, saving both the industry and the state money, she said. Only small steps These are only small steps, Ulmer was told by Ken Donajkowski of Phillips Alaska Inc. in the question and answer session after her talk. The oil industry has worked with the administration on legislation on best available technology for contingency plans and the petition process for coastal zone management consistency, Donajkowski said.
“I just want to reinforce that we’re taking very small steps,” he said.
“We do have very significant issues with permitting in the state for oil and gas development,” Donajkowski said.
“And we look forward to addressing those on a much larger scale, a much more ambitious scale, than we’re seeing at this point. I just want to make you aware of that.” Audit proposed Ulmer said she’d had the opportunity over the past several months to meet with the executive teams for Exxon, BP and Phillips, to talk about how the industry perceives the state of Alaska as a partner and what the problem areas are.
“Where are the opportunities for moving the state forward? Because we are in this together,” Ulmer said.
“And one of the issues of course that’s come up in all of those meetings is the issue that you have raised,” she told Donajkowski.
The permitting process has evolved over the years, “not even intentionally, but just because things get added and things get changed and you don’t know how it all works systematically to either make for better decision making or harder decision making. Slower or faster? More complete or actually more fragmented?”
Ulmer said that if she is in a position to do so, her intention is “to conduct a comprehensive audit of the permitting system in the state of Alaska.” Systems analysis This would be a systems analysis, she said, “to determine how the permitting is business is done in Alaska. To look at whether the pieces fit together. Does it make sense?
“And how can we improve it?”
Ulmer said “the vast majority of permits are handled expeditiously, quickly, there is no problem. But we also know what there are problem areas. The only way we’ll know exactly what those problem areas are, I believe, is if we do a systems audit.”
Once that audit is completed — by an independent organization — there will be a “dialogue process with the agencies, with the industry, with experts in the field who do this in other jurisdictions” to analyze where the state can make improvements.
“To not only make it smoother and quicker,” Ulmer said. “But also to make sure we are living up to our expectations as stewards of the land and water and air because that’s important to all of us as well.”
Ulmer said it would be a big project.
“But I think it’s absolutely essential as we move into this new millennium, this new period of greatly intensified competitive environment worldwide in terms of where you place your capital, where you make decisions where you’re going to be doing business. I think it’s important for us as a state to make sure that we’re doing business in the best way we can, as well.”
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