In previous columns for State Tax Notes, I have discussed H.B. 331, which was passed by the Alaska State Legislature to remedy the state’s failure to pay off outstanding rebatable oil and gas production tax credits. However, the Bill faced numerous lawsuits, culminating in a Sept. 2020 Alaska Supreme Court ruling that the financing structure created by the Bill violates the Alaska Constitution. H.B. 331 established the Alaska Tax Credit Bond Corp. as a public…

In my latest column for State Tax Notes, I look at the challenges that Alaska, and particularly the state’s oil and gas industry, has faced in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, low oil prices and the threat of a major increase to Alaska’s oil and gas production tax. The state of Alaska is highly dependent on its oil and gas industry for tax revenues. The state’s budget has taken a hit from the combination…

The Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources has issued an Order granting a one year extension for mining payments due under Alaska Statute 38.05.210 (Annual Labor) and Alaska Statute 38.05.211 (Annual Rental). In response to COVID-19, and in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services imposed restrictions on travel both to and within the state of Alaska. Those travel restrictions limited the ability of…

Of interest to mineral projects, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) continues to attempt to revise some of its Endangered Species Act (ESA) implementing regulations to align with the relatively recent decision from the Supreme Court in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. (139 S. Ct. 361 (2018)). Today, it proposed new regulations that would establish a process and standards for how the USFWS will conduct exclusion analyses under Section 4(b)(2) of…

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“AOGCC”) is considering revisions to 20 AAC 25.025 of the Alaska Administrative Code.  One revision would “allow a reduction in the requisite bond amount if an operator demonstrates that it has a bond in place with the landowner dedicated exclusively to the plugging and abandonment of a well or wells.” For those operators that were authorized to increase their bond amount in four annual installments, the proposed change…

When Alaska amended its mineral tenure statutes, it significantly changed the statement of labor that must be filed annually to maintain state mining claims. We previously provided an overview of the changes and now explain them in more detail. Neither the amount of labor required nor the deadline for filing the annual statement has changed. Rather, the amendments clarify what counts as labor and what must be reported on the annual statement. The law now…

On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held in United States Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association that the U.S. Forest Service was authorized to issue a special use permit granting a 0.1-mile right of way under the Appalachian Trail (“Trail”) to Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC (“Atlantic”) for a proposed underground natural gas pipeline.  The proposed Atlantic Coast pipeline is 604 miles long and connects West Virginia to North Carolina.  The Supreme Court’s…