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Rep. Young Pleased With Alaska OCS Language in Spending Bill

Washington D.C., December 15, 2011

Alaskan Congressman Don Young released the following statement today after it was announced that the appropriations bill introduced in the House of Representatives would include language which would in effect transfer the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate air emissions on activities on the U.S. portion of the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf to the Department of the Interior as is the case in the Gulf of Mexico:

“This is a game changer for development in the Arctic,” said Rep. Young. “After working with my colleagues for quite some time to resolve this, I am pleased that the conferees included language which will provide regulatory certainty to those companies that hold leases in the Arctic while also establishing consistency with other oil producing regions. After over five years of waiting on air permits and seeing billions of dollars spent while waiting on permits, I am as confident as ever that we will finally see production taking place in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. 

“I want to recognize Senator Murkowski for her leadership and the hard work she did in order for this provision to be included. Our work is not complete; it’s crucially important that Congress act swiftly and pass this bill so that the President can sign it into law.”    

Rep. Young has been a driving force behind getting this language signed into law, as evidenced by the examples below:  
  • The House of Representatives passed Rep. Young’s amendment, Amendment #533 which would limit funds from being used by the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) to consider, review, reject, remand, or invalidate any permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for activities on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
  • With Rep. Young as a cosponsor and strong supporter, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2021 which would eliminate baseless permitting delays for development off the coast of Alaska by tweaking the Clean Air Act.
  • Back in April of this year, Rep. Young testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on H.R. 2021 and the need to reform the Federal Government’s permitting process.

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