Companies commit millions to secure exploration licenses despite concerns over pipeline prospects Thandiwe Vela Northern News Services Published Friday, July 8, 2011 NWT - The recent call for bids on Northwest Territories land parcels has ended with oil and gas companies committing more than $500 million to secure exploration licenses in the Central Mackenzie Valley.  ... "We are pleased with the bidding results," Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Bob McLeod (NGP Photo) said, adding the high value of bids shows the industry's renewed confidence in the NWT oil and gas reserves. "These [...]

  Next Monday, July 11 is the deadline for comment on Chukchi OCS development.  Here's a website for easy, automated comment.  -dh Calgary Herald by Rebecca Penty.  An article in the Wall Street Journal championing TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL pipeline as an economic driver for a country hurting for jobs is evidence of support south of the border, president and CEO Russ Girling said Thursday.  The TransCanada executive said the opinion piece suggested the last phase of a $13-billion pipeline project would offer economic stimulus to a country facing a high unemployment rate [...]

July 11 is the deadline for comment on Chukchi OCS development.  Here's a website for easy, automated comment.  -dh Alaska's Statehood Act is 53 years old today.   (Below is an email alert we issued on the subject and reader Joe Henri's first hand perspective.)  Today your author addresses the South Anchorage Rotary Club, suggesting that, "Alaska's Constitution Could Guide Us Through Alaska's Greatest Challenge: Breathing Life Back Into the Trans Alaska Pipeline"   -dh CNBC completed a ranking of state business climates and found  Alaska to be among the bottom [...]