AGIA
4-15-13
From Governor Parnell's Office. Following the close of the first session of the 28th Alaska Legislature, Governor Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) today thanked legislators and highlighted the successful passage of many of his key priorities to improve Alaska. Reforming Alaska’s oil tax structure, providing cheaper energy to Interior and rural communities, reducing payroll tax increases, exercising fiscal restraint, and protecting Alaskan families led the governor’s agenda this session.
3-8-13
Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo), questioned the nominee to be the next Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, about her commitment to return balance to the various missions of the department. "Balance" would include recognizing importance of energy development, multiple use and consideration for the livelihoods and safety of citizens. See her full opening statement here, and the full video of the hearing here.A big, export gas project, which could provide royalties and taxes to Alaska, must also be understood in context of today’s Alaska in-state gas competition. (Continued on Monday....)
|
Valdez Star by Lee Revis. ... Taylor Bickford of public relations firm Strategies 360 has also begun preliminary work for the city (Valdez). Bickford gave the council a briefing on a community meeting in Seward he attended that was hosted by members of the ASAP project team.
“There was quite a bit of misinformation that was put out,” Bickford told city officials.
His criticisms of the ASAP presentation included, but was not limited to, what he described as giving the impression to attendees that the ASAP line was actually in full-swing, and virtually unstoppable; glossed over the fact that prices for many Alaskans purchasing the gas would actually cost more than current supplies; and giving the impression the MVP project is not actually feasible. He also said Valdez as a city was portrayed as greedy.
(Comment: we struggle to understand how the above "impressions" are evidence of "misinformation". -dh)
|
Seward Phoenix Log by Heidi Zemach. A spokesperson for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. gave a compelling argument in Seward Feb. 26 for the proposed Alaska Stand Alone Gas Pipeline and its positive implications for Seward. The in-state pipeline project, dubbed ASAP, is currently in its design and engineering phase and is sometimes referred to as the “bullet line.’ ... The pipeline would require more than 337,000 tons of steel which could potentially be shipped through the port of Seward, said AGDC spokesperson Leslye Langla (NGP Photo). They’re seeking a year-round, ice-free harbor with a friendly environment. Several other Alaska ports also are interested in this aspect of the project, she added.
|
Point of Personal Privilege, another accolade for your author's father: The Sultan of Turkey Slams: Colonel Dave Harbour ... |
Huffpost British Columbia. Premier Christy Clark says she has been working with B.C. media mogul David Black on his proposal to build a massive oil refinery near Kitimat on the north coast.
See the Video: Yesterday's presentation to the Resource Development Council for Alaska on the Endangered Species Act in Alaska by Geoffrey Haskett, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
1-30-13 Helping our readers access the 'whole story' as they consider decisions....
Calgary Herald by Don Braid. When Energy Minister Ken Hughes talks about the oilsands Thursday in Vancouver, he’ll have a message for our coastal cousins: “Not all roads lead through British Columbia.” Translation: If B.C. won’t transport bitumen, Alberta will find somebody who’s glad to do it. ***** Hughes says he’s interested in a plan to ship oil across Yukon to the Alaskan port at Valdez. He may have an announcement on that matter on Thursday. “The pipeline there is only 50 per cent full and declining in volume,” he says. “Valdez has a deepwater port, it has a refinery, it has storage capacity.” (See our earlier reference to this story, thanks to Diane Francis!)
|
Comment: Yesterday, Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska President
Steve Pratt (NGP Photo) provided
 testimony to the Special Senate Committee on Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Throughput. This testimony is typical of those seeking to balance long term needs of this and future generations with today's political realities. -dhThank you, Chairmen for allowing public comment on tax reform. My name is Steve Pratt, Executive Director of Consumer Energy Alaska, a regional chapter affiliated with the national Consumer Energy Alliance. We believe there are several reasons why we need to look at tax code revisions:
Business and residential consumers of energy have a direct interest in consuming competitively priced energy supplied from domestic sources, and also have a direct interest in robust overall economic activity to maintain livelihoods.
30% of Alaskans are dependent upon oil and gas exploration and development for employment.
Oil production has declined from a peak of over 2 million barrels a day to a little over 500 thousand barrels a day and is in freefall at the rate of 5 - 7% per year during times of increasing oil prices. (Entire Testimony Here)
|
|
A. We pay attention to the news announcement below, expecting it to be overlooked by many of Alaska's news media. Jake Adams is one of Alaska's most qualified leaders. The Arctic Policy Commission will play a key role in energy development. No one is more qualified than Adams to negotiate the tensions existing between the need for environmental protection, subsistence values and the economic health ofrural and urban Alaskans. The North Slope Borough mayor and Speaker of the House are to be congratulated on this selection.
Those contemplating any Arctic development would be well advised to seek the counsel of both Treadwell and Adams, among others. -dh
NSB CAO Jacob Adams, Sr. Appointed to Arctic Policy Commission
North Slope Borough
 Mayor Charlotte Brower (NGP Photo) today congratulated her CAO, Jacob Anaġi Adams for his appointment by House Speaker Mike Chenault  (NGP Photo) as an alternate member to the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission. “Jacob is a recognized and respected leader throughout the Arctic, and all of us at the North Slope Borough are thrilled. My sincere thanks and appreciation go out to Speaker Chenault for this appointment and for recognizing the important role the North Slope Borough will play in developing an Arctic Policy.” Mayor Brower added, "The North Slope of Alaska is what qualifies the United States as an Arctic Nation, and the people of our region look forward to being part of the process."
The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission was created by the Alaska Legislature in 2012 with the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 23. During the next two years the Commission will meet to provide policy recommendations regarding Arctic policy, and will deliver a final report to the Alaska legislature by January 30, 2015.
Mr. Adams was involved with both the North Slope Borough and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation even before their incorporations in 1972, and has remained an active leader in each ever since – spanning a period of more than 40 years. Adams currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of the NSB providing leadership and direction to the administration and policies of Mayor Charlotte Brower. Jacob has previously served the NSB as mayor and Assembly president.
Mr. Adams also served the North Slope Region as president and CEO of Arctic Slope Regional
Corporation from 1983 until 2006. Adams is still an integral component of the Corporation’s leadership through his ongoing service as a member of their board of directors.
Adams has also served as Mayor of the City of Barrow and member of the Barrow City Council. Born and raised in a community of subsistence hunters and whalers, Adams was instrumental in forming the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, where he served as chairman. He is a current member of the Barrow Whaling Captains Association and a volunteer for Barrow Search & Rescue.
Mr. Adams is from Barrow, Alaska. He is married to Lucille Hopson and they have six children, 18
grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
|
legislature to act," the organization says, "please see RDC's Action Alert at: http://www.akrdc.org/alerts/
.jpg)
Gas Solutions for Alaska http://www.housemajority.org/*Rep. Mike Hawker (NGP Photo) on Cook Inlet Natural Gas http://www.housemajority.org/
Research and Markets: 2013 Directory of China's Natural Gas Pipelines - Details of 2182 ....
12-21-12
Some Projects Seem More Lively Than Others As This Year Ends
Fairbanks News Miner by Matt Buxton. The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. on Thursday unveiled a reworked version of its in-state natural gas pipeline that provides lower prices for Fairbanks and communities along the proposed route from Prudhoe Bay to Southcentral. An earlier version of the project faltered during the 2012 legislative session. The revised proposal drops costly processing facilities for natural gas liquids. The liquids are no longer as profitable because the market is awash, thanks to the Lower 48 oil boom. *** Alaska Dispatch by Alex DeMarban (NGP Photo). ...pipeline giant TransCanada Corp. is shutting down its project office in Whitehorse, the capital of Canada's Yukon territory, another sign that current plans for a highway route delivering North Slope natural gas to the Lower 48 are dead.
.jpg)
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner John Norman (NGP Photo) issued a notice yesterday of the AOGCC's intent to adopt regulation changes dealing with hydraulic fracturing.
(See related national stories below. -dh)
Energy and Capital by Brianna Panzica. One by one, states across the U.S. have said “yay” or “nay” to fracking. In Texas and North Dakota, it was a resounding yes... and ... North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, experiencing a bona fide black gold rush. Vermont firmly said no, banning the practice for good. Of course, there isn't any significant shale located under Vermont, so few tears were shed. Other states have been on the fence. (More on fracking, below, right)
| On the one hand we have, from IHS, a new, positive report on the economic effect of shale energy: The economic benefits of unconventional oil and natural gas development exist in the states where the resources are produced as well as the states benefiting from the oil and gas supply chain reaching across the country. The IHS State-level Report on the economic impact of unconventional oil and gas indicates that unconventional activity contributes over 1.7 million jobs...growing to 3 million jobs by the end of the decade while generating $63 billion and $113 billion in annual government revenues (this year and in 2020) respectively. For states involved in unconventional oil and gas production, the largest economic contributions come from Texas and Pennsylvania. The top non-producing states - New York and Illinois - with little or no unconventional oil and gas production, are nonetheless seeing large economic contributions by producing the critical goods and services vital to the oil and gas supply chain. On the other hand, we have the EPA hurriedly releasing an unfinished study. Even though there is no credible evidence of hydraulic fracturing affecting the potable aquifer, and even though the states have effectively regulated hydraulic fracturing for decades, the EPA wants to "ensure...safely and responsibly". -dh
|
|
Q. Why do we cover some mining issues? A. Because the environmentalists, EPA and other regulatory agencies use similar anti-development techniques to stop or delay mining projects as they do energy projects. For example, we fear that should the EPA get away with overstepping its authority and stopping Alaska's proposed Pebble Mine project before filing for permits, it would be setting a precedent for violating due process. It would undermine America's rule of law. The EPA action in this case is especially egregious in that the proposed project would occur on State lands of Alaska, in an area designated for mining leases. Below is a communication we received today relating to the environmental preparations Pebble managers are undertaking before even filing for the first permit. Merry Christmas, Dear Readers! -dh
Greetings,
We’re pleased to inform you that the KTOO video coverage of the Keystone Center’s Independent Science Panels is now available on our website. The science panels were convened in October to review the Pebble Partnership’s environmental and socioeconomic baseline studies.
Our website also includes the PowerPoint presentations given by Pebble consultants and panel members, and the results of a follow up survey of people who registered for the panels. We are compiling an independent report on the recommendations from the science panels and hope to release the report in early 2013.
Finally, the Keystone Center is planning an additional independent science panel that will review Pebble’s baseline studies on wetlands, vegetation, wildlife and endangered species. We hope to hold the 2-day panel in April at a location in the Bristol Bay watershed. Details will follow.
Thank you for your continued interest in the Keystone Center’s science panels and please feel free to contact us.
Best Wishes and Happy Holidays,
TB
Todd Bryan, Ph.D.
Senior Associate
The Keystone Center 4580 Broadway, #230 Boulder, CO 80304 Tel: 303-468-8864 www.keystone.org Cell: 303-440-8190 Anchorage: 907-868-3476
|
11-12-12
Petroleum News Alaska by Eric Lidji (NGP Photo). 
The public corporation of the state is currently conducting due diligence to determine whether it should build, own and operate a 4.5-mile access road connecting the existing Tarn road to the Mustang field, as well as a production pad at the development site. After announcing a 40 million barrel discovery earlier this year, the small independent Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. is working to bring the Mustang field online by 2014.
Consumer Energy Alliance Weekly Report
Your Alaska Link hosts Doreen Lorenz and Mark Colveccio interview Dan Fauske (NGP Photo), CEO of the Alaska Gasline Development Authority (AGDC), 
also referred to as the As Soon As Possible (ASAP) project. See video:
Petroleum News Alaska by Eric Lidji. Almost a decade after regulators gave the utility permission to set its rates at will, an economist representing the state Attorney General’s office believes state regulators should once again subject Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC to traditional rate regulation. “The rationale for FNG’s economic exemption is negated by its pricing behavior,” economist Christina Klein wrote in testimony to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
11-3-12
For our Oil & Gas Journal subscribers:
ALASKA IN-STATE PIPELINE—1: STUDY CONFIRMS FEASIBILITY OF IN-STATE ALASKAN GAS PIPELINE ... Zhenhua Rui Independent Project Analysis Inc. USA Ashburn, Va. Construction of an Alaska in-state natural gas pipeline is feasible at any of three flow rate scenarios: 500 MMcfd, 750 MMcfd, and 1,000 MMcfd. Selection of a particular rate depends on specific conditions and perspectives, but the results of the study underlying this article show that building an Alaska in-state gas pipeline is reasonable for all three, assuming a 30-year operating life. This first in a two-part series of articles examines the factors influencing construction of an Alaskan in-state gas pipeline and the form such a project might eventually take. The second part will assess capital costs before discussing the m...
