Alaska Stand Alone Gas Pipeline Draft Environmental Impact Statement – Open House, Presentation and Public Hearing TONIGHT in Anchorage. 

 
Please take a moment to comment on the Obama-Enviro effort to zone and restrict use of oceans and waterways: Deadline TODAY.
 
Please take a moment to comment on Obama’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean: Deadline TOMORROW.
Calgary Herald  — Enbridge Inc, Canada’s No. 2 pipeline company, said on Monday that Chief Executive Pat Daniel will retire later this year and named Al Monaco, who heads the company’s gas pipeline business, as his successor.

 ADN by Lisa Demer.  The big fight in the Alaska Legislature this year over oil taxes is beginning to play out in the Senate Resources Committee and it may be epic.

 
JUNEAU– To clarify our objectives, the Senate Bipartisan Working Group has developed the following statement as members begin discussions on how to amend Senate Bill 192 in the Senate Resources Committee:
 
We Want

  • Increased Oil Production
  • More Jobs for Alaskans
  • Sustainable State Revenue Over the Long Term

We Believe

  • Alaska’s oil profits must be shared fairly between industry and the State across a wide range of oil prices, geologies, and viscosities
  • Any significant reduction to Alaska’s current share of oil profits must directly induce commercial investment, increase oil production, and create a competitive investment environment
  • Industry and the State must work in partnership to recruit, train, and hire more Alaska residents
  • Factual evidence and analysis must guide our debate

Alex Gimarc, ACES, Alaska Oil taxes, Senate MajorityDo Alaskans Really Believe What the Alaska Senate Believes?

Commentary by Alex Gimarc

 

While we cannot argue with what the Senate Bipartisan Majority wants, we strongly disagree with the underlying list of beliefs (See above). 
 
For example, the demand that oil profits must be “shared fairly between industry and the State…” is the height of socialism.  Profits DO NOT belong to the State of Alaska.  The producers pay various taxes, fees and royalties to the State in return for the right to produce oil and natural gas.  While royalties are negotiated via the terms of producing the leases, taxes and fees are left to the discretion of the State of Alaska exclusively. 
 
When the State excessively increases taxes, the marketplace kicks in and the producers will take their exploration and new production elsewhere.  This is precisely what they have done in response to the passage of Alaska Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) by the Alaska Legislature and the Palin administration.  
 
Additionally, the requirement that any “significant reduction in Alaska’s current share of oil profits must directly induce commercial investment…” is top-down, government directed economic planning at its worst.  It puts the Senate Bipartisan Majority into the Board Rooms of the producers making decisions, which is not what Members were elected to do.  Economic planning by politicians supplanting decisions made due to marketplace needs is the quickest way to drive any business into bankruptcy.  
 
Finally, the Senate Bipartisan Majority demands that “Industry and the State must work in partnership to recruit, train and hire more Alaska residents.”  This demand essentially turns employment on the Slope into yet another welfare program.  Why not let the marketplace operate?  Why not allow the best and the brightest to land the jobs?  Does the Majority really intend to have any less than the most highly qualified applicants working in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the state?  Really?
 

With these strongly held beliefs by the Senate Bipartisan Majority, we do not have much hope that there will be any rational or reasonable progress made toward modifying ACES by the Senate, as Members are bound by beliefs that are fundamentally at odds with marketplace economics that have historically worked.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Readers be the judge: 

ADN by Lisa Demer.  Some senators say if the Legislature rolls back the tax rate when oil prices are high, as oil companies and Gov. Sean Parnell want, it also should ensure the state gets a guaranteed minimal level of oil tax revenue when prices are low.

 

The Hill (2/25/12) reports: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to press Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s dominant oil producer, to boost output as rising prices are hitting consumers at the gasoline pump…A letter to Clinton on Sunday from Schumer, a top political strategist for Senate Democrats, comes as Democrats are trying to blunt constant GOP attacks over soaring gasoline prices.
 
The Weekly Standard (2/26/12) reports: Gleick looks set to be spending a good chunk of his MacArthur genius prize winnings on lawyers; he’s retained the same criminal attorney that Andrew Fastow of Enron used for his defense against fraud charges. And Gleick has hired Clinton/Gore crisis manager Chris Lehane. Heartland, for its part, has set up a legal defense fund to pursue a civil case against Gleick, presenting the ultimate irony: -Gleick’s attack may well help Heartland raise more money…More than a few observers have asked why anyone should trust Gleick’s scientific judgment if his judgment about how to deal with climate skeptics is so bad. -Gleick’s defense of his motives would be laughable if it weren’t so pathetic: “My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts​—​often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated​—​to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved.”