We lament the current travail borne by our friends in Egypt and Jordan, and pray for them.  (NGP Photo: Nubian, Arabic teacher, upper Nile -- and our guide and Facebook friend weeping for joy at a special moment.   January 2010)  -dh Journal of Commerce by Tim Bradner (NGP Photo).  Alaska legislators say they're frustrated with lack of progress by TransCanada Corp. in securing shipping contracts for a planned $40 billion-plus Alaska natural gas pipeline, and some are arguing for terminating the state's contract with the pipeline company, under which [...]

Comment: Northern Economics and the University of Alaska's Institute of Social and Economic Research have quantified the economic effects of Alaska OCS exploration and development programs.  In effect, the economists demonstrated the dangerous economic impacts of government permitting delays.  At a time when the Nation needs economic recovery and Alaska desperately needs predictable Trans Alaska Pipeline throughput, federal government permitting delays are inexcusable.  -dh ADN by Richard Mauer.  Peter Slaiby (NGP Photo), Shell Alaska's vice president, said at a news conference in Anchorage that the decision to forgo exploratory drilling [...]

Today we issued an email alert and, while we used spell check on the body of the editorial, we stupidly left typographical errors in the email subject line; we misspelled the President's name and the word 'government'.  For that and all our other failings, we deeply apologize.  -dh  (See our email editorial comment below.) New York Times, by Phil Taylor.  Royal Dutch Shell PLC this morning announced it is postponing plans to drill for oil this summer in seas off Alaska, citing continued uncertainty over whether it would receive federal [...]

ADN Editorial.  Alaska's congressional delegation has urged expedited action by the Environmental Protection Agency to clear up Shell Alaska's air permits, so that the oil company can drill an exploratory well this summer just offshore in the Beaufort Sea.  ...   We can't wait for perfection. We'll never have it. The president's Gulf spill commission pointed out that savvier government regulation and an industry getting religion about safety were vital to produce offshore oil responsibly. Those elements remain works in progress.  Shell's Beaufort drilling in 2011 should give both company and [...]