RDC NEWS DIGEST
Tourism: AlaskaAct formed
The Resource Development Council (RDC) will be playing a major role in the Alaska Alliance for Cruise Travel (AlaskaACT), a new organization that has been formed to address the decline in cruise ship passengers visiting Alaska.
AlaskaACT is comprised of businesses and individuals that directly benefit from cruise passengers in Alaska. The group will bring together stakeholders to promote accurate information and support responsible development and growth of tourism and the cruise industry. It will encourage the Alaska Legislature and the Parnell Administration to work toward a resolution of the current legal issues between the state and the cruise industry. The group opposes inequitable taxation and environmental policies directed at the cruise industry.
Alaska is facing big cuts in cruise ship visits in 2010 and 2011. Six cruise lines plan to cancel or reroute ships to Alaska next summer and two more ships are to be redeployed to Europe in 2011. The cuts mean 140,000 fewer cruise ship passengers will visit Alaska next summer and an additional 19,500 passengers will go elsewhere in 2011.
The organization is planning future speaking opportunities, public relations plans and visits with the legislature for the near future.
To learn more about this organization, view industry white papers, and sign up for the mailing list, please visit: www.alaskaact.com.
Mining: RDC opposes proposed refuge
RDC opposed the creation of a new refuge in Southwest Alaska in testimony delivered before the Alaska Board of Fish in Anchorage December 5.
Deantha Crockett, RDC Projects Coordinator, called the proposed fish refuge “yet another attempt to prevent responsible economic development opportunities from being able to navigate the state permitting process.” She said the process already mandates protection for salmon and water resources in the Bristol Bay region. She noted that the proposal creating the refuge seeks to add additional and undefined regulations to the process with no defined outcome to the region.
Currently, 70 percent of the land base in Southwest Alaska is classified as protected, including the largest state park in the nation. The remaining 30 percent of the region’s lands are open for multiple use management to provide opportunities to diversify the economy and fund local government services.
Local governments in the area, including the Bristol Bay and Lake & Peninsula Boroughs, opposed Proposal 13.They join other private landowners and village corporations in the region that feel changes in area land designations could impact future economic opportunities on their lands. The Board of Fish rejected the proposal.
Power: RDC supports Healy power plant
RDC has expressed its strong support for the renewal of a key air quality permit for Golden Valley Electric Association’s Healy Clean Coal Plant (HCCP).
RDC supported the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s (ADEC) determination that a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) review does not apply to the restart of the HCCP.
the normal operation of the PSD-permitted plant does not require a major modification triggering another PSD review.
The permit for this plant as well as a smaller adjacent coal plant has been renewed once already since it was first issued.The plant has extremely low emissions and permit terms allow for even lower permit limits based on actual operations. Moreover, Golden Valley itself has a strong compliance history with permit terms.
RDC stated timely renewal of the permit is in the public’s interest as access to more power generation is important to Alaskans because of the increasing shortages of natural gas in Southcentral Alaska, which has caused Chugach Electric Association to reduce much of the surplus gas-fired power that it previously sold to Golden Valley at attractive rates. Energy from the HCCP would benefit Golden Valley ratepayers and Southcentral Alaska utilities as power from Healy could be sent south in power shortages or emergencies. In addition, the infrastructure is already in place to generate and transport electricity from this plant.
Oil and Gas: OCS drilling given green light
The U.S. Interior Department has given a conditional green light for Shell to drill three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea in 2010.
“Our approval of Shell’s plans is conditioned on close monitoring of Shell’s activities to ensure that they are conducted in a safe and environmentally responsible manner,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has signed off on a plan that will allow Shell to drill three exploration wells between July and October.The company’s plan calls for using one ship for drilling and other support boats, including on site oil spill response vessels. The proposed drill site is more than 60 miles offshore and 80 miles northwest of Wainwright.
While the Interior department’s news represents a step forward for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) exploration in Alaska, Shell is still awaiting a key air quality permit from the Environmental Protection Agency and a drilling permit from MMS.The company paid $2.1 billion for leases in the Chukchi Sea in 2008.
The five-year MMS drilling plan for offshore oil and gas exploration is also currently under review by the Obama administration.The MMS is considering whether to allow the plan to proceed through 2012 or craft a new one. As part of that plan, the agency is conducting a new court-ordered environmental analysis on the potential impact of offshore drilling in the Chukchi.
Alaska’s OCS contains an estimated 27 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.The potential oil is more than twice the amount produced on the North Slope since the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System went online in 1977.
Forestry: Roadless Rule exemption
Governor Sean Parnell has called on the federal government to implement the 2008 Tongass Land Management Plan and he renewed his request that the exemption for the Tongass from the roadless rule be maintained and formalized in regulation.
“Revoking the Tongass exemption would likely wipe out the few remaining timber jobs and small businesses,” Parnell said. “Where thousands of timber jobs once existed, now only a few hundred remain. Losing the exemption would be harmful to Southeast Alaskans.”
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