5.6 — APPENDIX 1: OCS ISSUES IN ALASKA 



Numerous issues surround the development of petroleum resources on 

 the Alaskan OCS. The most serious controversies have arisen from disputes 

 between state and Federal officials. While both state and Federal 

 officials favor developing Alaska's offshore petroleum resources, there 

 is substantial disagreement over how to proceed. Basically the Federal 

 government, with the full support of industry, wants to develop all nine 

 of Alaska's OCS petroleum basins as rapidly as possible under present 

 OCS law. State officials, on the other hand, favor a much more cautious 

 and deliberate approach to OCS development and under a system which 

 provides for a greater state management role and a share in OCS revenues. 

 The specific conflicts between federal and Alaska officials are: 



1. Offshore land ownership, 



2. Adequacy of petroleum technology, 



3. Alaska's role in OCS decision makings and 



4. Revenue sharing. 



Several offshore areas have been subject to land ownership disputes 

 between Alaska and the Federal government. The major court decision to 

 date involved the ownership of lower Cook Inlet. In 1967 the United 

 States and the State of Alaska began litigation when the state proposed 

 leasing tracts in this region. The state claimed jurisdiction over the 

 submerged lands of lower Cook Inlet based upon the historic bay doctrine. 

 Despite rulings supporting Alaska's claim by the U.S. District Court and 

 the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court, in June 1975, rejected 

 Alaska's claim in maintaining that the state did not prove historic 



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