House Joint Resolution 19 was introduced to help raise awareness of how US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for the use of ultra low sulfur fuels will affect rural Alaska, and to urge federal and state agencies to determine the extent of the problem.

Concern over the pollutants in diesel exhaust prompted the EPA to require that diesel fuel produced and sold in the US for motor vehicles contain less than 15 parts per million of sulfur, and that new diesel engines be designed to only run on ultra low sulfur fuel. These new rules create problems for rural Alaska, where much of the electric power is produced with diesel generators.

Ultra low sulfur fuel will cause increased transport, storage and energy production costs as well as logistical problems for rural Alaskan communities:

• Ultra low sulfur fuel is less efficient and more expensive, increasing energy production costs.
• It would be prohibitively expensive for Alaskan refineries to retrofit their plants to produce the ultra low sulfur fuel, so electric utilities will be forced to purchase fuel from out of state, increasing transportation costs.
• Ultra low sulfur fuel requires additives in order to operate in Alaska's extreme cold. This arctic grade blend is only produced in Alberta and will increase transportation costs to Alaska compared to purchasing fuel from West Coast refineries.
• Ultra low sulfur fuel cannot be stored in the same tanks as higher sulfur fuel unless those tanks are cleaned out, adding costs to transportation and storage.

The EPA allowed the State of Alaska to create its own plan for implementing the new rules, recognizing that Alaska faces unique challenges and does not share the same air pollution problems as the Lower 48. In 2002, DEC submitted a plan requiring road-system communities and major communities on the Marine Highway to comply with the same rules as the Lower 48, but is still drafting a plan for rural Alaska.

HJR 19 urges DEC to be as flexible as possible when applying the ultra low sulfur use rules to rural Alaska, and asks the governor to direct the department to reconsider the application of these rules to smaller communities around the state under the 2002 portion of the plan. The resolution also asks that the EPA, DEC and the Denali Commission work to determine the logistical and financial effect that the ultra low sulfur diesel rules will have on rural Alaska.

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