Oil tax bill causes dustup in Alaska House, No one was told to sit down and be quiet at the Alaska House on Wednesday, but rules of order were invoked and challenged during a dustup over the introduction of an oil tax credit bill.
From Ak-Headlamp
A summit hosted by the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) is scheduled for March 1 to March 6, in an attempt to entice commercial customers to support its $45 billion Alaska LNG project. The summit is expected to cost about $200,000, though the state is trying to secure corporate sponsors to help share the tab. About 15 officials from roughly 10 companies in Japan, Korea and Singapore are expected to attend, with guests staying at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood. Headlamp notes that absent from the summit is any mention of Alaska’s highly capable support industry…. (Read more)
Our comment: We’d say this “summit” is another waste of money on another ill-considered scheme: based on the Governor’s many failed visits to Asian markets; and based on the state having no gas to market now, no transportation system now, the most expensive of transportation systems, no price for long term take-or-pay contracts now, current minimal support from producers, no guarantee the project is viable now or later … or will be built … or, if built, will be completed … or, if completed, will be viable under the management of a bureaucracy complicated by interference from temporarily elected governors and legislators. Asian energy leaders are very competent. In our opinion, they are right now laughing at Alaska’s loss of face for having opened offices in Tokyo and Houston when it has nothing to market. Lastly, any investor will be reluctant to participate in ownership of a government LNG project wherein the Governor refused to provide the gas producers with fiscal certainty guarantees and, wherein, common knowledge is that the government hosting an expensive “summit” is almost financially insolvent were it not for the virtually untouchable Alaska Permanent Fund. Yes, world marketers are not dumb. That begs the question of whether Alaska’s current fixation on an uneconomic LNG project is wise.
AGDC board approves $102M spending plan for gasline project, Alaskajournal.com, The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. board of directors unanimously approved the budget at its Thursday meeting in Anchorage. The plan would …
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P.S. If state government LNG marketing offices in Houston and Tokyo are so critical to success of the government’s current LNG scheme, one thinks it might have been logical — and cheaper — to convene the summit in one of those places? -dh
Other signs of the times: irresponsible legislators better think twice about 1) any bill that raises costs, and 2) any oil tax increase bill that will discourage investment. -dh
REI project in holding pattern, evaluating situation at present 02/12/2017 (Trouble viewing this article? Click here). Resources Energy Inc., the Japanese company with plans to build a liquefied natural gas facility on Alaska’s Cook Inlet for the export of LNG to Japan, has its project on hold for the time being. In September the company said that it was anticipating a decision around the turn of the year on whether….
3,000 jobs lost in 2015 02/12/2017(Trouble viewing this article? Click here)
A new report from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development says that, following 10 years of steady increase, employment in Alaska’s oil industry dropped from 14,100 in 2015 to 11,100 in 2016.
Carbon dioxide (“CO2”) is as important as water and oxygen in sustaining life on the planet. Plants deprived of CO2, die! Animals deprived of plants as a source of food, die! Clearly, mankind must protect and enhance its store of CO2. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the unwarranted vilification of CO2 by climate-change alarmists could give rise to serious unintended consequences.
The following examines the history of CO2 and describes a plausible consequence if we continue to suppress the truth about CO2. If truth is to prevail, we must overcome the wilful blindness of politicians and the power of group think that sustains the false CO2 narrative.
Ancient History
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Winston S. Churchill
In the beginning, the planet Earth is created as a desert devoid of carbon life forms (i.e. plants, animals and humans).
Subsequent to the planet’s earliest, documented ice age (Huronian), the Green Period begins in an atmosphere containing as much as 30% CO2.
The planet’s greenery acquires its carbon by inhaling CO2 and exhaling oxygen as a waste product.
Terrestrial and marine organisms appear when the atmosphere’s oxygen content reaches the critical level necessary to support such life.
Following the Karoo Ice Age, the CO2-rich (2,000 ppm) atmosphere is degraded by natural processes to produce the current CO2-starved (400 ppm) atmosphere.
Modern History
About 1760, the Industrial Revolution commences with the generation of CO2 from coal, thereby extending the Earth’s Green Period.
In 1992, the Earth Summit falsely accuses CO2 of having the power to dangerously interfere with the climate system.
In 2007, the US Supreme Court mistakenly rules that CO2 is a pollutant.
As a result, billions of dollars are being squandered to accelerate and augment the ongoing, natural sequestration of CO2.
The Future
Mankind finally develops a process capable of reducing the CO2 content of the atmosphere to less than 150 ppm. This process is effectively the ultimate weapon of mass destruction that can prematurely terminate the Earth’s Green Period.
In the end, mankind recklessly commissions said process and transforms the planet into a desert, devoid of carbon life forms. The truth about CO2 must prevail to avert such a catastrophe.
Conclusions
The history of CO2, together with a scientific analysis*** of the facts pertaining to CO2, reveal that it is impossible to generate too much CO2. Nevertheless, climate-change alarmists continue to demand the reduction of CO2 emissions to prevent runaway warming, an unfounded fear.
In reality, an imminent climate threat is a repeat of the Little Ice Age (1300 to 1870). These reoccurring cold periods have resulted in mass migrations and the collapse of civilizations.
A distant, much more serious threat to all carbon life forms is the natural sequestration of CO2, which will eventually result in the end of the Earth’s Green Period. Logically, supporters of a “green” agenda should applaud the enrichment of the atmosphere by our CO2 emissions.
Thorpe Watson, PhD
British Columbia, Canada
http://watsongallery.ca/ClimateReality/CR/ClimateReality.htm
*** Can we double the CO2 content of the atmosphere?
by Thorpe Watson, July 10, 2016
http://watsongallery.ca/ClimateReality/CR/2016.07.10.IMPOSSIBLE-TO-DOUBLE-CO2.pdf
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Topic: “The Statewide Economic Review and 2017 Forecast”
Topic: “Our Arctic – Our Future“
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