The Observer, January 2006

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Council backs budget change at spill agency

The citizens’ council is supporting a move to change how Alaska’s Division of Spill Prevention and Response is funded.

Until now, the division has been financed primarily by a tax of three cents per barrel on crude oil produced in the state. But that revenue is declining as oil production drops and can no longer support all of the spill division’s work.

As a result, Gov. Frank Murkowski has proposed an appropriation of $725,000 from the state general fund next year to pay for some division programs unrelated to crude oil operations. Crude oil programs would continue to be financed as in the past.

“We believe this is the best way to maintain Alaska’s high-quality oversight programs for both crude and non-crude-oil operations,” council Executive Director John Devens wrote in a Jan. 11 letter to lawmakers. With the state enjoying record-high oil prices and a large revenue windfall, Devens noted, the appropriation “is a very wise investment of a very tiny portion of the budget surplus.”

The letter was recommended by the council’s Legislative Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Tom Jensen. The other committee members are Pete Kompkoff, vice chair, and Sherri Buretta, John Allen, George Levasseur, and Steve Lewis. All committee members are members of the council board.