get a chuckle out of you just before the execution… “I want to say first that we are not trying to stifle oil and gas exploration in Alaska… One of the platforms in my campaign for this office was a pledge to maintain a stable tax climate for the oil industry… “I also understand the need for continued exploration for oil and gas, both on state and federal lands… But there are other considerations that I, or anyone who holds this office, must take into account…among them are the people who live in the coastal areas…and neither the state nor federal government can adequately analyze and prepare for the impact each of these lease sales could have on our coastal communities. “I realize no matter how sincere our concerns are, you’re going to find it hard to endorse delays in lease sale offerings. I understand that, because you are doers, people who accomplish things that supposedly can’t be done…building and safely operating an 800-mile pipeline across some of the most rugged and environmentally sensitive country in the world springs to mind as an immediate example.” Sheffield summarized his approach on balancing competing needs in answering a question from the floor. “It is important that we encourage exploration of Alaska. I’m not against oil and gas. I want to live off it for the next thousand years.” “We, as a representative of all the people of Alaska, try to have some balance and some commonsense approach. We have to regulate, and we have to watch certain areas and certain areas are very, very important to Alaska. We are trying to do the best we can to strike a balance so that environmental concerns and industry can go forward together and accomplish what we need to do in the state.” Frank Turpin, President, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company “The good news is that we’ll be pumping more oil through the pipeline than ever before. And the bad news, from the standpoint perhaps of some of you, is we’ll be doing it with fewer people and with less help form other outside of Alyeska. …Let me add that this is not, from our standpoint, a gloomy forecast. “It assumes increased production of North Slope oil…and all that that implies in terms of state revenues and jobs and impact on our industry and economy. “Let me tell you what we have done in this regard and hope to do over the next five years… We started out more than six and one-half years ago with a pipeline 800 miles long, having eight pump stations, and a marine terminal, and pumping oil at the rate of about 650,000 barrels a day….And in comparatively large increments, the pipeline throughput increased from 650,000 bbls….to over a million bbls a day, and it has been increasing ever since. “We still continue to make some contribution to the state’s economy. Out of our total operating costs of slightly more than $200 million in 1983, we spent about 75% of that with suppliers and contractors in Alaska. “Now I’d like to add just one more thought.” “When the pipeline came on-stream more than six- and one-half years ago, I think we were all like youngsters in terms of our hopes for a prosperous future for Alaska and our newly tapped petroleum resources.” www.AlaskaAlliance.com CONTINUED on PAGE 54 2024 Meet Alaska Conference & Trade Show 53
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