Ms. SPEER. Well, it seems to me that the first step is to prove that reclamation is possible, to figure out whether in fact it can be done before we enter the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and that that ought to be one of the preconditions, that the industry first demonstrate that it can restore things over the long term successfully, and secondly, that it can comply fully with the laws and regulations of the United States and the State of Alaska.

Senator WIRTH. Is language to that effect adequately laid out in the legislation?

Ms. SPEER. NO. I may have missed it in here, but I did not see anything about restoration of developed sites in this legislation.

Šenator WIRTH. Could you do me the favor of going back through this, and if you do not think that the reclamation language is adequate, could you send me a draft of whatever ideas you think would be appropriate?

Ms. SPEER. I'll take a crack at it.

Senator WIRTH [presiding]. That would be very helpful.

Just finally, I have been handed the gavel to suggest that not only are there no other members of the committee here but that it's probably time to fold our tent.

I am sorry that I didn't have a chance to talk about this with Joe Fisher, but he had made the argument, you'll remember, about other resources that are available for the production of oil in Alaska alone. Plus he talked about a variety of others as well. And I would like to include in the record what I think is a very interesting analysis, an analysis done by the State of Alaska on the benefits and costs of exporting north slope crude oil.1 Part of the argument that was made by the State of Alaska was that if we were not allowed under law to export oil to Japan and elsewhere, that would have a very dramatic impact on the production of oil in Alaska. And the State of Alaska then turned around and made reference to all of the production capacity that was being shut in in the State of Alaska.

Well, it seems to me that that very same analysis ought to apply to what is available in Alaska and what's currently there.

Now, I also asked Secretary Hodel about this when he came up in June, if he could give us a clear analysis of what energy sources were currently being drilled in Alaska, what was being produced in Alaska, what the projections were for further production in Alaska, and what would happen if the price of oil went up. We have not yet received an answer to that, but we have again sent a letter down to the Department of the Interior asking them if they would do that. And prior to receiving that, since there won't be any objection from any other members of the committee, I am going to include this particular report done by the State of Alaska in the record at this point.

Before closing out, let me ask any of you if you have any closing words that you would like to add.

Ms. SHELDON. I would say that we very much appreciate your questions and comments and the opportunity to add further views. I am one of your constituents and I am delighted.

1 The State of Alaska report was retained in committee files.

I would say that along the lines of your last comment that we now have very fancy offices at the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund because the oil market stagnation and the economic bust in Denver has enabled us to afford to be in a building that used to be occupied by energy companies. I don't say that positively because our economy is not in great shape.

I think we can look to sources of oil in the lower 48. I am very familiar with my region, the Rocky Mountain region, and many of our national forest lands are currently leased almost 95, 98 percent of lands available for oil and gas leasing are leased. Those lands are not being drilled at present not only because of environmental opposition, although of course there is some, but because the market is not there to sustain that. So, there are sources of oil that we can look to before we look to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

And while we are talking about making the record complete, I have a report of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association1 which was given to the State of Alaska in April of this year. The association requests the State to consider removing or changing stipulations included in leases for State lands for oil and gas. Many of these stipulations and conditions are those that are recommended by the Department of the Interior for inclusion in leases in the arctic coastal plain. The association calls these onerous, unduly expensive and very difficult to comply with.

This report also includes cost figures for complying with stipulations. It indicates that mitigation is, indeed, an incredibly expensive effort and may not always be successful. So, we have based on the experience of the operators in Alaska some views about the utility of stipulations and about the economic impact of them. And I would like the committee to consider that when they consider the legislation which places such great reliance on stipulations as the way to mitigate or minimize environmental damage.

Senator WIRTH. Again, without objection, we will include that in the record.

Senator WIRTH. Thank you very much.

Ms. SHELDON. Thank you very much.

Senator WIRTH. And I am sorry that I did not realize that you were a constituent. You are advertised on the list here as being from Washington, D.C.

Ms. SHELDON. No.

Senator WIRTH. That's only your employer. Is that right?

MS. SHELDON. The great State of Colorado.

Senator WIRTH. We all, of course, take no joy in the fact that our economy is reeling in such a way as it is in large part through the current energy crisis that we are going through. But I think that we have an obligation, and I have tried to make that clear over and over and over again in the discussions of this legislation, that we have an obligation to look at a much more balanced approach to our energy policy which includes conservation and alternatives and the whole list of options that we struggled with and came to

1 The Alaska Oil and Gas Association report was retained in committee files.

understand during the mid-1970s. And it seems to me we ought to learn from history and not forget it.

I thank you all.

Mr. Brower?

Mr. BROWER. Senator Wirth, just one other point. In your fair State of Colorado last month there were nine days of meetings of the Fourth World Wilderness Congress, a good part of which was reviewing this book, the Brundtland Commission report on our common future. That is headed by a Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Prime Minister of Norway, who is one of the most brilliant women I have ever encountered up until this morning.

This is described as this is the most important document of the decade on the future of the world. This report has been all but ignored by the Reagan Administration, and I hope that it is not ignored by this committee. I think that it would have a drastic effect on the form of this legislation if this were looked at. We don't have much time to make major changes in our direction if we want to be around, and it's-

Senator WIRTH. Mr. Brower, I am very familiar with that, and also read with great interest the 50 some odd recommendations that came out of the last conference, a lot of which make a great deal of sense I think. There seemed to be some political ones in there as well, but sorting those out, that was a very impressive array.

And I was sorry not to be able to be in attendance at that, but my wife was there for most of it and had the pleasure of having dinner with you one night which you may or may not remember, but she was there for those sessions.

Mr. BROWER. I do.

Senator WIRTH. Thank you all very much. I appreciate your being here.

Ms. MILLER. Can I make one more comment?

Senator WIRTH. Please.

Ms. MILLER. Just a couple of quick ones. I think you might have been out of the room when I was testifying part of the time, or were you here for the whole-

Senator WIRTH. I was out of the room.

Ms. MILLER. Okay. Just two points pertinent to one of your questions.

Just a general comment. I know you are asking for amendments and ways to improve this legislation, but in listening to all the testimony yesterday and the day before and today, I don't see how you can move forward with this legislation because there are so many unknowns that Lisa Speer has brought out today as far as reclamation and this drilling mud contaminants and so forth. There has not been a cumulative effect study. I just don't see how this bill can be improved.

Senator WIRTH. One of the nice things about having witnesses come in is that they remind us of the substance, and then we try to figure out the politics. [Laughter.]

Ms. MILLER. In any case, that's just a point. I don't see how we can go forward with it. I think it should be killed-the bill.

And then finally, you had one question about other sources of oil within Alaska, and you are waiting for a response from the State on that, as I understand it?

Senator WIRTH. No, the Secretary.

Ms. MILLER. The Secretary.

I would just like to-maybe your staff person will tell you, but I would urge you to get a copy of the current oil and gas lease plan for the State of Alaska which is put out every year in January of the year. The January 1986 report mentions that 13.5 million acres of on-shore lands in the Prudhoe Bay area alone will be coming up for potential lease sales over the next five years.

Now, 13.5 million acres is a lot of acreage when you are talking 1.5 million on the coastal plain of the refuge. That land has moderate potential for oil discovery, and I think that is important to note. I mean, these are lands that are adjacent to the Kuparuk field, north slope foothills. And they have high potential. So, we may have some other Kuparuks that are just right in the immediate Prudhoe Bay area where you have got to infrastructure. And you know, why not keep a commercial zone there and a green belt to the east? It makes good sense, and it's a good, balanced approach for developing our American resources.

Senator WIRTH. To all of you, thank you very much for being here. We appreciate your testimony.

And the committee will be adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m., the hearing was recessed, to reconvene Thursday, October 22, 1987.]

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