Phillips, state, file in opposition to Danco court appeal

Kristen Nelson

Phillips (Phillips Petroleum Co. and Phillips Alaska Inc.) and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission have filed motions in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage for dismissal of the appeal by Danco Inc. of the commission’s decision on remand denying forced integration of two leases into the North Cook Inlet unit.

Both state that any appeal is premature since the commission had not yet issued its final decision when the Danco appeal was filed Jan. 23. The commission issued a final decision on applications for rehearing Feb. 8.

Phillips’ response said the record before the commission is more than 10,000 pages in length, yet Danco makes “general, conclusory claims on the merits without reciting evidence and with no record citations.”

Phillips’ response also says Danco’s exhibits include “new testimony not presented at the hearing” and characterized as “absurd” the “suggestion that due process requires that Phillips, as owner and operator of the (North Cook Inlet unit), not be allowed to participate in a proceeding to expand…” the unit.

The commission said both parties and non parties to the commission’s proceedings were appealing, and told the court it “reserves the right to seek the dismissal of non parties.” In response to petitioners’ claim that the commission was responsible for delays in the proceedings, the commission provided a chronology which it said “makes clear that there has not been any notable degree of delay that can be attributable to the Commission.”

In explaining the length of time it took to respond to the application for rehearing, the commission said: “That filing is an unorganized aggregation of comments, criticisms, and claims, some involving legal issues, some involving factual or technical issues, and some involving observations of indeterminate character, spread over five separate but somewhat overlapping memorandum or letters… This collection totals some 34 pages, mostly single-spaced.

“Although the Commission might be faulted for excessive indulgence in not summarily rejecting such a filing, the Commission cannot be criticized, once it decided to consider the filing on the merits, for taking the necessary time to conduct that consideration.”