Legislators hear from competitiveness board

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Legislature’s Oil and Gas Fiscal System Working Group, established under House Bill 111 to make recommendations to the Legislature on the state’s oil and gas fiscal system, heard from the Oil and Gas Competitiveness Review Board at a July 10 meeting in Anchorage.

The working group, co-chaired by Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, and Rep. Geran Tarr, D-Anchorage, has, in addition to the co-chairs, four members from each body in the Legislature, currently Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage; Rep. John Lincoln, D-Kotzebue; Rep. Jason Grenn, NA-Anchorage; Rep. David Talerico, R-Healy; Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; Sen. Natasha von Imhof, R-Anchorage; Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna; and Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage.

HB 111 empowered the co-chairs of the working group to form an advisory board, and last October the two said the Oil and Gas Competitiveness Review Board had accepted the role of advisory group.

The board, established in 2013 in Senate Bill 21, has 11 members: two nominated by leading nonprofit trade associations representing the oil and gas industry in the state; the chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; three members of the public - a petroleum engineer, a geologist and a financial analyst; the commissioners of the departments of Environmental Conservation, Natural Resources and Revenue; and two members of the public who do not represent the oil and gas industry.

The working group heard a number of updates from members of the review board: a historic review of the state’s fiscal policy from Tax Director Ken Alper; an overview of the North Slope and Cook Inlet basins from Tom Walsh, a geologist, and partner in Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska; an overview of the state of labor in Alaska by Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO; an update on Alaska infrastructure by Wyche Ford, president of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance; and an overview of Alaska’s oil and gas industry and the state’s role in global energy portfolios by Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.

The working group plans another meeting in August on a date that works for members. Giessel reviewed some topics that had come up in the meeting and asked for other suggestions from members.

Issues on which members requested more information included ASTAR, the Arctic Strategic Transportation and Resources program; the impact of drug screening in the work force, particularly with reference to impacts of marijuana screening; a U.S. Geological Survey update on geology in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and the royalty proposal by Congressman Don Young for ANWR.