Performance Details

Department of Natural Resources - Office of Project Management & Permitting

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Mission

The Office of Project Management and Permitting coordinates state multi-agency regulatory reviews and authorizations, while collaboratively engaging federal agencies on land use planning and policy initiatives to maintain and enhance the state's economy, quality of life, and maximize the value of Alaska's vast natural resources.

Core Services

• Lead and implement multi-agency coordination to ensure consistent, defensible, transparent, and timely permit decisions for a range of responsible natural resource and infrastructure development projects.
• Coordinate State responses to proposed Federal actions (rules, plans, and policies) to ensure they are consistent with all Federal laws and Statehood guarantees, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA).
• The Grants Assistance Program is under development.
• The Carbon Offset Program is under development.

Mission Results	Core Services
A: Keep projects on schedule, avoid increased costs, create certainty, resolve challenges, and generate potential State and public revenue and investment in Alaska. Details >	A1: Lead and implement multi-agency coordination to ensure consistent, defensible, transparent, and timely permit decisions for a range of responsible natural resource and infrastructure development projects. Details > TARGET #1: Conduct multi-agency coordination on planning, review, permitting, compliance, and monitoring for a range of responsible natural resource and infrastructure development projects consistent with the Department"s and participating State agencies" missions. TARGET #2: Collect receipts (i.e. revenue) for reimbursable services, per signed agreements with project proponents, to support multi-agency coordination on planning, review, permitting, compliance, and monitoring. TARGET #3: Establish and maintain Reimbursable Service Agreements (RSAs) with State agencies to provide sufficient financial resources to support effective participation in multi-agency coordination.
Mission Results	Core Services
B: Further Alaskan interests in job growth and employment; domestic production of conventional and critical minerals, energy (including oil and gas); economic activity; State and public revenue increases; and public land use and access. Details >	B1: Coordinate State responses to proposed Federal actions (rules, plans, and policies) to ensure they are consistent with all Federal laws and Statehood guarantees, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Details > TARGET #1: Lead and implement multi-agency reviews and consolidated State comments on proposed Federal actions.
Mission Results	Core Services
C: Identify and pursue funding opportunities for the benefit of the Department. Details >	C1: The Grants Assistance Program is under development. Details > TARGET #1: Develop and submit applications for funding to support department projects and priorities.
Mission Results	Core Services
D: Use State natural resources and land to create sustainable carbon-reducing projects that generate State revenue and provide co-benefits to the Alaska public, State and local economies, and others, and help meet free-market demand for decarbonization Details >	D1: The Carbon Offset Program is under development. Details > TARGET #1: Develop carbon offset projects

Performance Detail

Target #1: Conduct multi-agency coordination on planning, review, permitting, compliance, and monitoring for a range of responsible natural resource and infrastructure development projects consistent with the Department"s and participating State agencies" missions.. Methodology: Graph illustrates the number and types of projects OPMP Coordinators manage. In 2024 we restructured our programs to better demonstrate projects. OPMP Coordinated Projects Fiscal Year Mining Assoc Infra - Mining Energy Assoc Infra - Energy Oil and Gas Transportation Renewable FY 2024 16 1 4 4 0 0 0 FY 2023 15 0 0 0 3 3 2 FY 2022 17 0 0 0 3 3 2 FY 2021 16 0 0 0 5 3 2 FY 2020 12 0 0 0 4 3 1 Analysis of results and challenges: The objective of multi-agency coordination is to efficiently advance responsible project construction, operations, and expansion for a range of responsible natural resource and infrastructure development projects, including mining, energy, and broadband, to complement the State`s goals of increasing Alaskan production of conventional and critical minerals, promoting energy (including oil and gas) abundance, deploying broadband, and generally to foster the responsible natural resource development that drives the State`s economy. OPMP works with project proponents and regulators to develop timelines that align, to the greatest extent possible, statutory, regulatory, and other permit requirements with project needs and goals. Progress is monitored, potential challenges and opportunities are identified, and support is continuously provided. OPMP continues to anticipate an upward trend in the near-term (1-2 years) in the mining, energy, and broadband categories, due to demand for OPMP services in line with Alaska"s goals and the Department"s mission, and commensurate with outside funding and other support. OPMP"s principal challenge is maintaining sufficient organizational capacity (i.e. staffing, training, expertise, budget resources, etc.) to adjust to fluctuations in workloads and deliver timely, multi-agency coordination on planning, review, permitting, compliance, and monitoring. Such workload fluctuations are often driven by factors outside OPMP"s control (i.e. economic conditions, regulatory changes, commodity process, investment trends, available funding, etc.) Related links: See DNR Office of Project Management and Permitting Target Last Modified: 01/06/2025

Target #3: Establish and maintain Reimbursable Service Agreements (RSAs) with State agencies to provide sufficient financial resources to support effective participation in multi-agency coordination.. Methodology: Total amount of funding (in budget dollars) available to other state agencies via reimbursable services agreements provided by OPMP. RSA Amounts by Departments Fiscal Year DNR DEC ADFG DOT Other YTD Total FY 2024 514.7 802.1 714.2 0 155.3 2186.3 FY 2023 614.2 984.7 691.5 839.3 55.0 3184.7 FY 2022 $790.5 $1213.3 $670.8 0 118.0 2792.6 FY 2021 $612.6 $691.7 $557.8 0 112.3 1974.4 FY 2020 $446.9 $720.6 $680.8 0 55.5 1903.8 Analysis of results and challenges: Establishing and maintaining RSAs with State agencies provides a mechanism by which those agencies may recover expenditures resulting from the greater demands that large projects and intergovernmental coordination place on the agencies. OPMP tracks RSA totals at the Department-level as a measure of available funding for State agencies that participate in OPMP"s multi-agency coordination Programs. This metric also indicates the networked characteristic of the Programs. However, cost recovery is limited to actual eligible expenditures for reimbursable services, which OPMP reports under Target #2 as revenue. OPMP"s principal challenge related to RSAs is maintaining continuity during implementation despite staff turn-over within participating agencies. New staff may be unaware of available funding through OPMP"s project related RSAs, or they may not understand the networked characteristic of the coordinated permitting program administered by OPMP. OPMP addresses this challenge through internal and external training and outreach efforts and by working with participating State agencies to ensure their cost estimates, which provide the basis for the issued RSAs, are reasonable and responsive to the project-specific scopes of work. OPMP has provided relatively consistent RSA funding totals to participating State agencies over the preceding five years, and this trend is expected to continue, with some variations based on annual project workloads. Target Last Modified: 10/11/2024

Target #1: Lead and implement multi-agency reviews and consolidated State comments on proposed Federal actions.. Methodology: The graph displays number of federal reviews OPMP coordinated, including but not limited to, federal planning, development actions, rulemakings, and policies. Federal Actions Reviewed Fiscal Year Actions Comments Reviewed - No Comment FY 2024 39 45 23 FY 2023 46 38 FY 2022 53 31 FY 2021 49 49 FY 2020 84 Analysis of results and challenges: Leading and implementing multi-agency reviews and consolidated State comments on proposed Federal actions is necessary to further Alaskan interests in job growth and employment; domestic production of conventional and critical minerals, energy (including oil and gas); economic activity; State and public revenue increases; and public land use and access. Proposed Federal actions have Statewide implications for: • Natural resource development (including mineral and oil and gas exploration, development, production, and transportation), and future State and public revenue, jobs, and economic activity. • Opportunities for utility or transportation corridors on Federally managed lands. • Opportunities for public land uses and public access (including on Federal lands and to adjacent State and privately-owned lands). • Furthering State land entitlements. • Furthering State management activities. • Opportunities for recreation, hunting, fishing, and trapping. • Timber harvest. • Cabins in Alaska Conservation System Units (CSUs), such as National Forests (as allowed by ANILCA). Presenting and building a consolidated State response also ensures a strong administrative record, better preserves the State`s standing to pursue legal actions when necessary, and prepares the State for large project influx such as, associated with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. Without coordination, individual State agencies may selectively produce multiple, more narrowly focused responses and comments, increasing potential for conflicting positions or information gaps. The number of Federal actions where OPMP has coordinated or facilitated the State in preparing for a multi-agency State response or has otherwise facilitated consultation between State and Federal agencies provides a measure of potential impacts on State interests from national and regional Federal land management actions or Federal policy decisions. Trends in this metric are driven by the number of policies, management plans and actions proposed by Federal agencies. Large, complex management plans, which can have significant economic impact on the State, are more time intensive and involve multiple planning phases, spanning several years. The number of Federal actions affecting Alaska has been generally steady following changes in federal administrations in FY2021. To provide better resolution in this metric, starting in FY2021, OPMP differentiated the data by the number of Federal actions coordinated by OPMP, and the number of formal consolidated comment letters submitted by OPMP in response to the Federal actions. This data was combined in previous reporting years. OPMP also reviews additional Federal actions (e.g., in FY2024, 23 additional Federal actions) that do not result in formal consolidated comment letters. OPMP"s principal challenge is maintaining sufficient organizational capacity (i.e. staffing, training, expertise, budget resources, etc.) to adjust to fluctuations in the number of policies, management plans and actions proposed by Federal agencies that may affect Alaska. Starting in FY2021, OPMP has dedicated additional Unrestricted General Funds (UGF) to meet the increased workloads associated with coordinated State review of Federal actions and to increase capacity to more proactively engage in and prepare for Federal actions affecting Alaska. Target Last Modified: 10/11/2024

Target #1: Develop and submit applications for funding to support department projects and priorities.. Analysis of results and challenges: This new Program is to identify and pursue funding opportunities for the benefit of the Department. The U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the U.S. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are availing extensive Federal funding and incentives for infrastructure development projects in Alaska. OPMP is leading development of this Program, including design, implementation, and oversight. This Program is anticipated to involve guiding the Department, through the grant funding process; achieving funding strategies; managing all aspects of the grant development and pursuit process, including planning, strategizing, budgeting, and developing and submitting applications; and providing status updates, next steps, and recommendations. Target Last Modified: 10/11/2024

Target #1: Develop carbon offset projects. Enter title here Year Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 YTD Column 6 Column 7 Analysis of results and challenges: In 2023, legislation was enacted allowing the State to use its lands and natural resources for carbon management projects. The legislation authorized two programs within the Department: the Carbon Offset Program and Carbon Management Leasing. The Carbon Offset Program enables the State to implement carbon offset projects on State land. Authorized under AS 38.95.400 - AS 38.95.499 and managed by OPMP, these State-led projects generate revenue through carbon offset credits while providing other environmental, social, and economic co-benefits and helping meet free-market demand for decarbonization. Target Last Modified: 10/11/2024

Last refreshed: 03/20/2025 12:00 pm