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November 2009
Climate What? Update on Global Warming Scandal/Fraud.
See last week's Global Warming Scandal/Fraud revelations, here. Now, see what this week's scrutiny brings us, below.
The Alaska Standard's Alex Gimarc (Photo-r) comments: The leak of 160 meg of e-mails, computer modeling code, spreadsheets
and other data from East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit has exposed over a decade of fraudulent climate science “proving” the existence of manmade global warming. It has thoroughly documented the complete corruption of the peer review process and corruption of the scientific journals used to publish those results. At this point, not only are the conclusions that there is global warming now in question, but the data that led to those conclusions now suspect. And the corruption exposed engulfs the scientific community, the scientific journals, the UN IPCC, several universities, and even Obama’s Science Czar John Holdren, who has and still is participating.
Kyle Smith writes (11/29) in the NY Post, “You wouldn’t jump from saying, “I believe young men commit a lot of the murders in this country” to “Let’s lock up all 17- to 25-year-old males,” though doing so would eliminate most of the problem. Cap-and-trade is a similar overreaction, a Tax on Everything, from snacks to Cadillacs. Every product that is made with carbon-based energy would be punished. The primary appeal of the plan to statists and their never-ending search for new revenue is its ninja-like stealth. Like Europe’s “Value Added Taxes” that are simply included in the price of everything, it wouldn’t be transparent, like a sales tax or an income tax. “It’s really big, really, really hard, and is going to make a lot of people mad,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat, said this week. (Much more below....)
Blogger's imagination ... and, more on global unwarming, etc.
Thomas Lamb's Blog. The Republican who heads up the federal agency overseeing the proposed construction of Alaska's natural gas pipeline is stepping down at the request of President Barack Obama. Hmmmmm......
Enforcing Cap and Raid Abuse--and More! - How Natural Gas Was Formed...Abiotic Synthesis? - Salazar Defends Oil & Gas Program
SEE PAULA EASLEY'S (NGP Photo) ALASKA STANDARD PIECE: It has all the earmarks of a blockbuster 
thriller - greed, corruption, lust for power, obstruction of justice, and more. It's been called the biggest scandal in history. Organized scientific fraud. Cap-and-trade con game. A conspiracy. One thing the mainstream media hasn’t called it is news. I’ve been riveted by the blogosphere's stunning "ClimateGate" revelations unfolding by the minute since November 20. It leaves me more disheartened than ever with the MSM’s long-standing failure to represent skeptics’ contention that CO2, a trace component of the atmosphere, never has and never will be capable of measurably affecting climate or weather anywhere on the planet. ... Greenwire (11/24, subs. req’d) reports, “House Republicans are asking a federal court to unseal the case file of a closed criminal matter in Southern California in which an air emissions credit trader sold fake credits to the tune of $12.5 million. Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) say the details of the case should be released because they could offer a glimpse into how U.S. EPA will oversee criminal conduct under a national cap-and-trade system for global warming emissions. ... NY Times (11/25) reports, “The California Air Resources Board released a draft rule on Tuesday establishing a cap-and-trade program that sets a declining ceiling on emissions of greenhouse gases and allows companies to buy and sell permits to meet it. California’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. ... Washington Post (11/25) reports, “The percentage of Americans who believe global warming is happening has dipped from 80 to 72 percent in the past year, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. … Still, even respondents such as Woolcott who favored a cap-and-trade bill questioned whether Americans would support a policy that could raise energy prices in the short term, given the current state of the economy. "Honestly, I don 't think the public's going to back it," she said. "Right now it's all they can do to pay their electric bill and put gas in their cars. You're asking me right now, and it's like, let's get through Thanksgiving and Christmas." ... Bloomberg (11/25) reports, “China blamed a “lack of good faith” on the part of developed nations for hampering talks on a treaty to fight global warming less than two weeks before the start of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen. Yu did say China intends to plant 60 billion trees over the next 10 years to help combat pollution, increasing the country’s forested area by 40 million hectares by 2020. “These trees will play a carbon sink role in the years to come,” he said. China is the world’s biggest emitter of the gasses blamed for global warming and has resisted calls for specific goals on reducing carbon emissions, saying such measures would crimp economic growth. ... Robert Costa writes on National Review Online (11/24), “Later that month, McAleer threw another dart Gore’s way — his film Not Evil Just Wrong. The documentary takes aim at Gore’s role in ginning up global-warming hysteria. ... LA Times, by Margot Roosevelt. California officials on Tuesday issued the nation's first blueprint for a broad-based cap-and-trade plan, an innovative and controversial effort to use market forces to control global warming. The ambitious program would cap most of the state's greenhouse gases, including those from more than 600 power plants, refineries, cement plants and other big factories. It would allow companies to buy and sell emission allowances among themselves to reach an overall goal of cutting planet-warming pollutants 15% below today's levels by 2020. ... Obama announces 2020 emissions target, Dec. 9 Copenhagen visit.
ANGDA Hosts Two Useful Energy Events - CIRI Wind Moves Ahead Despite Backdraft - Salazar Announces Lease Sales
1. Last Friday, Chairman Mary Ann Pease (NGP Photo-r) conducted a Commonwealth North Energy Action Coalition 
meeting to 
hear a thorough briefing by the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative's (AVEC) Meera Kohler (NGP Photo-l). The briefing occurred at the offices of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority (ANGDA).
AVEC serves 7,500 facilities with 78 employees and 95 village technicians in 53 villages covering a population of 22,000 comprising what would be Alaska's 4th largest city after Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. The AVEC customers comprise 44% of Alaska's village citizens. Contributing to the complication of AVEC's mission is dealing with the extreme variation in served populations. The average village served has 420 souls compared to Anchorage's almost 285,000 citizens.
Kohler emphasized the goal of achieving efficiency and diversifying the sources of electric power, saying that rates among her cooperative members had increased from $1.29 Kwh in 2002 to $4.55 Kwh last year. She said AVEC's Board of Directors has set forth goals to include the reduction of diesel use by 25% and elimination of half of AVEC's power plants over the next 10 years, along with a reduction of non-fuel costs by 10% over the same period. Kohler seemed confident in meeting the goal, outlining AVEC's ambitious plans for grouping nearby villages to share power generation facilities and expanding the use of wind energy. (More meeting photos will appear below. -dh)
2. Agency Briefing to the ANGDA Board of Directors B2F Pipeline Project. ANGDA’s Project Purpose: “The B2F pipeline will deliver Cook Inlet natural gas to the Copper Valley, Delta Junction and Fairbanks, and will provide gas storage for Southcentral use.”
3. CIRI Wind, ADN by Elizabeth Bluemink (NGP Photo). Citing mismatched business goals as the
reason for the split, the Anchorage Native corporation said that it and California-based EnXco, agreed to part ways in October. Until then, EnXco had been the developer of the 54-megawatt wind farm and CIRI's equity partner in the project. CIRI said it hopes to sign a deal with another well-known wind farm developer in early December. CIRI can fund the project without an equity partner, if need be, said Ethan Schutt (NGP Photo), a CIRI vice president for land and energy. The parting with EnXco has not caused the project's timeline to slip, CIRI spokesman Jim Jager said. (See our original story.)
4. DOI Decides to Schedule Lease Sales. The Department of the Interior has scheduled 38 oil and natural gas lease sales for U.S. public lands in 2010, including a sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (NGP Photo) announced today. “During the past year we have held 32 onshore lease sales, offering more than 2.7 million acres in the West and generating more than $126 million in revenue for American taxpayers,” Secretary Salazar said. “Next year will be just as busy with 37 quarterly sales for Western public lands and the first sale in nearly _small1.jpg)
two years for tracks in the northern reaches of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Our nation needs a balanced and appropriate use of our conventional and renewable energy resources. That means oil, gas and coal will continue to play an important role in our energy mix, as we develop and expand the use of wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable sources.” The Bureau of Land Management’s 37 quarterly oil and natural gas lease sales scheduled for 2010 will offer thousands of parcels in a dozen states, most in the West. The BLM’s Alaska State Office oil and gas lease sale will offer available tracts in the Northeast and a portion of the Northwest areas of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The sale is scheduled for August 11 in Anchorage, Alaska. The last sale for the Reserve was held September 24, 2008. BLM conducts its quarterly lease sales based on nominations received from industry. These are evaluated to determine eligibility and availability for leasing before being delineated into individual parcels. A preliminary parcel list is sent to sister agencies, such as the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for review and recommendations on which parcels to offer. Since January of this year, the Bureau of Land Management has held 32 onshore lease sales that offered 2,346 parcels, covering 2.7 million acres, and sold 1,212 of those for $126 million. BLM will hold four more lease sales this year, for a total of 36 for 2009. Oil and gas leasing in the NPR-A is authorized under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, as amended. Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statements have been prepared for both the Northeast and Northwest planning areas.
...From the CWN meeting Friday at the ANGDA offices:
Alaska House in New York Responds To Our Editorial
Below is the Alaska House letter and our response....
RDC Closes 30th Anniversary Conference and Drue Pearce Gives Her Final Speech As the Federal Coordinator, Receives Standing Ovation
RDC Treasurer, Tom Maloney (NGP Photo), opened the conference with a spirited introduction of
Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan (NGP Photo-r) who gave more than the usual, mayoral welcome to Anchorage. (More reports, links, photos coming....)
RDC Celebrates 30th Anniversary With Packed, Informative Conference and Trade Show
Alaska Dispatch by Rena Delbridge (NGP Photo-left). North Slope oil companies issued a
warning on Wednesday morning: Without significant state and federal changes, investment and new exploration will taper off dramatically in 2010. They also cited huge shale gas reserves in the Lower 48, unfavorable state fiscal policies and massive risk associated with the multibillion dollar cost of a proposed natural gas pipeline as real challenges to delivering Alaska's natural gas to markets. Spokespeople for majors BP and ConocoPhillips and the smaller Pioneer Resources spoke to several hundred resource industry professionals at the Resource 
Development Council's annual Anchorage conference. The bottom line? As North Slope infrastructure ages and easy, profitable oil is drained, companies face increased risk they must balance with lower potential rewards. The increasingly complicated, remote and costly Alaska projects under consideration will have to compete for the companies' investment dollars on a global scale. "Really, there is no easy oil left on the North Slope," Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska president Ken Sheffield (NGP Photo-l, Presentation) said. "Alaska projects face stiff competition for investment dollars." ... ConocoPhillips won't drill exploratory wells in 2010, said Helene Harding (NGP Photo-r, Presentation), vice president for North Slope operations and development. ... BP Exploration Alaska President John Minge (NGP
Photo-l) said his company remains committed to unlocking the next pot of North Slope gold -- heavy oils 
and natural gas. ... Governor. Sean Parnell (NGP Photo-l) has said the state's tax structure is fair and that producers have yet to approach him with figures demonstrating a need for revisions, but that his door is open. On behalf of ExxonMobil, the final of Alaska's Big Three producers, Lee Bruce (NGP Photo-r) addressed only progress on two initial wells at the Pt. Thomson field, where legal face-offs between the state and Exxon continue.
ADN Story by Elizabeth Bluemink (NGP Photo). Oil and gas companies on Wednesday gave a mixed forecast on their plans for work in Alaska next year.... For the first time since 1965, ConocoPhillips will not drill a new exploration well in Alaska next year. Instead, the company plans to focus its spending on 
developing its Chukchi Sea leases and making improvements at the two big oil fields it runs, Kuparuk and Alpine, said Helene Harding (NGP Photo-above-r), vice president of North Slope operations and development. "We're shifting our focus offshore," she said. ConocoPhillips spent more than $500 million last year to obtain its Chukchi leases in federal waters. It is now working on offshore development studies with Shell, which spent $2.1 billion to acquire leases during the same lease sale. Shell hopes to begin drilling on its leases next year.
Further NGP Comment: RDC President Wendy Lindskoog (NGP Photo-r), opened the Conference and introduced "Governor Governor Parnell. Parnell emphasized his priority focus on the Importance of Alaska OCS development. Among many other social and economic accomplishments in less than six months in office, he discussed
his interaction with 
Secretary Ken Salazar and the active role he has played in responding to a landslide of Obama Administration initiatives that could delay or quash OCS activity. He did defended the Administration's support for the state's gas pipline law (AGIA) and tax policy (ACES) but in the case of the latter, indicated that he would be open to hearing evidence and a case for change. He closed by quoting Alaska's Federal Government Relations Director, John Katz (NGP Photo) as saying he (Katz) had never seen the State being so actively required to defend its right to develop its own resources. Department of Natural Recources Commissioner Tom Irwin (NGP Photo-r), recalled the Trans Alaska Pipeline diminishnment of throughput from 
2.1 Mmbs/d in 1988 to the current throughput, 2/3 down, and the effect that decline has on a state unrestricted budget that is 90% dependent on oil and gas revenue. "We are absolutely in full sync with Governor Parnell's OCS position." Shell's Pete Slaiby (NGP Photo-right opposite Bluemink, Presentation), briefed
the audience on Shell's 2009 challenges and accomplishments, including some 75 community engagements. He then listed the 'myths' environmental activists have used in opposing reasonable OCS development and the answers to those--in most cases--emotional allegations which lack a basis in fact. His 2010 and beyond outlook radiated confidence in the Company's commitment, but conditioned a successful Alaska OCS program on pending court and DOI and EPA decisions. Consumer Energy Alliance President David Holt (NGP Photo-l, Presentation) briefed the resource development audience on his national non-profit's efforts to help
elected officials and other decision makers view energy policy through the eyes of consumers. He said that his organization, representing over a hundred national consuming and producing organizations, 
advocated an, "all of the above" approach, emphasizing that the consuming and public interest must rely on fossil fuels to provide an energy basis for a future time when more alternative energy technologies could be employed. His comment that, "The road to energy independence runs through Alaska; the road to economic recovery runs through Alaska", was a theme several other speakers quoted during the balance of the conference. Secretary Salazar's Special Assistant for Alaska Affairs, Pat Pourchot (NGP Photo-l), quoted Secretary Salazar's 2009 public statements affirming his commitment to Federal land use policies that included reasonable oil and gas policies, and went on to announce the opening of a new 'Climate Change Center' for Alaska. "President Obama and Secretary Salazar have expressed strong support for Alaska...," he said. -dh
SEE RDC Videos and Presentations.
OFFICIALS DEBATE AGIA IN FAIRBANKS - NARUC ISSUES DRILLING MORATORIA REPORT
Fairbanks News Miner, by Christopher Eshleman. State officials said Tuesday night that efforts to spur construction of a massive natural gas pipeline are on schedule despite skepticism from critics and some lawmakers. The plan, pitched by former Gov. Sarah Palin under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, is projected to have drawn $150 million in investments from the team of TransCanada and Exxon Mobil by mid-summer, according to an October progress report.
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) 121st Convention, Chicago, Ill. Monday, Gas Committee Chairman O'Neal Hamilton asked Commissioner Emeritus Dave Harbour (NGP Publisher) to brief commissioners on a completed moratoria drilling study. "This is the most current and useful source the President and Congress will have as they make important decisions affection the Nation's energy policy in 2010," Harbour said. Joining Harbour for the briefing were consultants hired by a 'Moratoria Study Group', Jay Ratafia-Brown of SAIC and Kent Perry of Gas Technology Institute. Hamilton also chaired the Study Group and Harbour served as volunteer coordinator of the study and Study Group Vice Chairman. Following is the script of a news release the Study Group issued this week.
A broad-based Study Group briefed the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Gas Committee today on a three-year effort to design and execute a research project to determine the social, economic and environmental effects/costs of not developing America’s oil and gas resources.
“Vast U.S. oil and gas resources are available on Federal property, both on land and within two hundred miles of the coastline,” said Study Group Chairman O’Neal Hamilton. Hamilton is past Chairman of the South Carolina Public Service Commission and Chairman of NARUC’s Committee on Gas, which initiated the study in 2007. “Whether additional Federal lands should be leased for energy development,” Hamilton said, “and under what conditions leasing should occur is a matter for national energy policy decision makers. Although both the Presidential and Congressional moratoria were removed last year on certain federal lands, it remains important for policy makers to know the extent of the resource base on such lands and the effects that maintaining the restrictions would have on the country. Our research project is dedicated to giving decision makers information upon which they can rely in developing America’s national energy policy.”
The study stems from a July 2007 NARUC resolution that authorized the Association’s participation in a public-private partnership that would analyze the impact of the existing moratorium on energy exploration and production on federal lands.
According to Hamilton, the”Moratoria Study” used a Federal government modeling program relied upon by Congress and the Administration for analyzing the energy outlook under existing laws and projecting the impacts of new energy policy proposals. The “NARUC-National Energy Modeling System (NARUC-NEMS)” version of the model,” he said, “was employed by the Study Group’s contractor, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). SAIC is a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure and health.
SAIC’s NEMS-NARUC model results determined that maintaining traditional energy exploration and production moratoria on Federal lands would result in an alternative domestic energy future that “…significantly alters the cost and availability of domestic oil products and natural gas in all economic sectors and regions of the country.” According to the study, which also includes an estimated increase in the oil and gas resource base, if moratoria were maintained from 2009-2030, model projections show that:
– Cumulative domestic oil and natural gas production decreases by 21% and 10%, respectively.
– Average natural gas price increases by 28% and average gasoline price increases by 8.4%.
– Cumulative net present value (NPV) of consumer purchases of electricity and natural gas increases by $325 Billion.
– Cumulative national real disposable income decreases by $1.163 Trillion ($4,000 per capita).
– Cumulative oil imports from OPEC countries increase by 4.1 Billion barrels.
– Cumulative national payments to OPEC countries increase by $607 Billion ($295 Billion NPV).
– If resources within the moratoria areas are not developed, there would be no new environmental effects within the U.S. jurisdiction attributable to development of those resources. However, as a non-modeled item, the study observes that there could be environmental effects on domestic and international waters as a result of increased tanker transport of oil and gas imports and unknown environmental effects in countries from which the U.S. would import the resources.
Moratoria Study Group Members: Chairman O’Neal Hamilton, NARUC Commissioner Emeritus Dave Harbour, NARUC/IOGCC Commissioner Victor Carrillo, NARUC Executive Director Charles Gray, NARUC Commissioner Bob Pickett of Alaska, NARUC Commissioner Emeritus Marshall Johnson, NARUC Commissioner Emeritus Bob Keating, NARUC Commissioner Emeritus Don Mason, NARUC Commissioner Emeritus Doug Mood, IOGCC Commissioner Dan Seamount, NARUC Commissioner Timothy Simon of California, NARUC Commissioner Stan Wise of Georgia. Moratoria Study Sponsors: American Gas Association, American Public Gas Association, American Petroleum Institute, BP America Production, Consumer Energy Alliance, Dominion Resources, DTE Energy, Edison Electric Institute, El Paso Natural Gas, EnCana Corporation, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, National Fuel Gas Co., Natural Gas Supply Association, Noble Energy, Marathon Oil Company, Piedmont Natural Gas, Questar Corporation, Shell Exploration and Production Co., TECO Peoples Gas System.
Moratoria Study Advisors: Michelle Foss (University of Texas), John Cogburn (AGL Resources), David E. Dismukes (Louisiana State University), Bill Hochheiser (DOE), Richard P. O’Neill (FERC), John Pyrdol (DOE), A. Michael Schaal (EIA), John Broderick (BLM), Sam Fraser (MMS).
