We hope our Anchorage readers will attend a tax panel presentation tonight at the University of Alaska:"The Taxes of Our Future".   -dh  ***  First Nations say they will fight Oilsands, pipeline

Juneau Empire/AP by Becky Bohrer.  The long-awaited debate on the dominant issue this legislative session — overhauling Alaska’s oil tax structure — could finally begin on the Senate floor Wednesday, with majority leaders indicating they have the votes to pass the bill.  (Here is our testimony on this subject to the Senate Resources Committee, given on February 20, 2013.)

We received several responses to our email alert editorial yesterday.  We do not activate our Blog ‘comment’ function often because spammers then swoop in to add irrevelant information and we don’t want to take the time to be constantly cleaning up the spam.  However, we do love to hear from readers and receive feedback from throughout North America daily.  We only print comments with your approval.  Here goes:

1.  Bill Hopkins.  "Damned good editorial, Dave! Hope it is read read by those who need the lecture."

2.  Robert Crook.  "Thanks, Dave, for the timely insight into Alaska’s O&G business.  Let’s face it, we ARE a hydrocarbons-driven country.  There’s hardly anything in this country not made from an oil and gas product or an agricultural product.  Most folks still think toilet paper is made from trees!  99.99% … comes from post-consumer recycled paper products.

Look at a typical car/truck in America.  It is made of (1) petroleum by-products (2) mining products (3) or ag products (like cloth seats or rubber tires).  Other factoids…
 
Salt comes from mining
Glass…
Steel…
Aluminum…
China…
Brick…
Copper…
 
The list goes on and on…
 
Petroleum products are too numerous to mention, but you might want to make a list for your next publication.  If the average, “American Idol / Dancing with the Stars, NASCAR, hockey puckster” knew where all our ‘stuff’ comes from, they may take a different approach.  Of course, we could go back to cave dwelling, and rubbing two sticks together.
 
Rgds,
 
Robert 
______________________________
Comment:  


Thanks, Bill.
 
To Robert’s observation we might note that without mining, oil and gas, the major components of wind, wave and geothermal generators and solar cells would be missing.  And, as we look around our homes and offices, we note that everything in our view came by trucks whose components and fuel are dependent on fossil fuel.  Then, there is air travel, train and ship freight, telecommunications and health care.  Yes, we are an energy driven society and to regulate or tax the heck out of fossil fuel exploration and production is to contribute to the weakening of our culture, way of life and future.  -dh

Peter Micciche, FB Photo, Alaska State Senate, ACES, Oil Taxes, www.northerngaspipelines.comCommentary: This Week, Alaska State Senator Peter Micciche Called on Colleagues to Remember Alaskan History ….

Wednesday marked the 32nd anniversary of a historical press conference, as we have reported herein, throughout the years.  The Governor, Senate President, House Speaker and a large bipartisan group of legislators gathered together this week in 1981 to announce agreement on the state’s ‘fair share’ of oil revenue flowing from state lands.  Note that this occurred after a decade of annual tax increases.

We believe Senator Micciche may be the first public official after that historic day to have picked up on the significance of the gathering.  From that day forward, the state had achieved a predictable tax climate and oil industry investments multiplied.  The result was production of what became twice the original proven reserves at Prudhoe Bay (9.6 billion barrels of oil).   That is…until politicians began tinkering with the ‘production tax’ a decade ago (i.e. in return for investment climate ‘certanty’ which they never received in return). 

Here is a link to the video of Micciche’s floor speech (Go to 69:30-75:40), thanks to his Chief of Staff, Larry Semmens.  Here is a transcript of the floor speech.   We also obtained the transcript of that 1981 press conference prepared by Senate Majority Press Secretary, Carolyn Kuckertz, from the audio that we put online several years ago.

As he concluded his floor speech, Micciche said, "…I hope we all put Alaskans first and partisanship and parochialism second.  …  I just ask that we recognize the wishes of those great and diverse Alaskans that came together over thirty years ago on this very day to discuss their definition of a fair share for Alaskans."  -dh

 ALASKA OUTDOORD SUPERSITE: Default The Alaska Stand Alone Gas Pipeline/ASAP Project

I happened to see a presentation on this today at one of the local Chambers of Commerce. It was very interesting and kinda sad. It was stated that even with all the energy Alaska has, because it’s not readily available to its citizens that Alaska is equal to third world countries with development and available resources by 2015. People cannot afford housing and utilities and it’s getting worse. Because of this the economy could be declining because the next generations cannot afford to live here.

At the presentation there was lists of chambers of commences, cities and companies that supported it.

http://www.agdc.us/2011/07/alaska-st…-july-1-2011/#

I kept in the back of my mind that the person doing this presentation works for it and of course is going to make it sound like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. But I am curious about the opinions of people here. So far from what I have studied it looks like a good thing. I wanted to get some opinions before I do this.

Today’s links, courtesy: Consumer Energy Alliance:

 

Forbes: The Texas Shale Oil & Gas Revolution – Leading the Way to Enhanced Energy Security **Op-Ed by David Blackmon  –  There are more energy-related jobs in Houston than in any other city on earth. Upwards of 200,000 in the business itself (E&P, Midstream, Refining) – this does not include the thousands of oilfield service industry jobs at companies like Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger. All of the major oil and gas companies have thousands of employees in the city, and many of the larger independent producers are headquartered here. When you factor in all the indirect and induced jobs that the industry supports around the state in all the hotels, cafes, gas stations and clothing stores around the state, you quickly get numbers into the millions.
 
Washington Times (Editorial): Unlocking the Keystone pipeline  –  It’s hardly a secret that Mr. Obama’s White House styles itself deep green. He has prescribed higher taxes on the oil and gas industry to fund his $2 billion Energy Security Trust to pay for research into windmills, solar panels and electric cars. Pie-in-the-sky energy projects won’t change the facts on the ground. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says renewables such as solar, wind, algae and sludge provide only about 5 percent of the nation’s energy needs, and that is unlikely to change substantially in the foreseeable future, despite billions in federal subsidies. America runs on gasoline, and the Keystone XL pipeline would go a long way toward filling the nation’s tank. If the president won’t put a signature on the dotted line, Congress should put one there.
 
POLITICO: Poll: President Obama voters don’t want Keystone — But the Center for Biological Diversity, the group that commissioned the poll, says the president should pay attention to what his most fervent supporters are saying. Sixty-eight percent of people who voted for Obama want him to reject the pipeline, the poll found. Opposition is especially strong among Obama voters age 18 to 29, according to the survey conducted by Public Policy Polling. More than 60 percent think he would be breaking his promises if he OKs the pipeline — and 16 percent would feel betrayed.
 
Reuters (Column): OPEC must prepare for big rise in oil supplies — High oil and gas prices have unleashed the biggest drilling boom in 30 years. OPEC members must prepare for a big increase in oil supplies in the second half of the decade, as well as heightened competition from natural gas in some of their core markets, and a further erosion in demand as conservation and efficiency measures bite harder. Outside North America, the number of rigs actually drilling for oil and gas averaged 1,277 in January and February, the highest since 1983, and more than double the number operating in 1999, according to rig counts published by oil field services company Baker Hughes International on its website. 
 
POLITICO: Energy Security Trust faces big sticking point — President Barack Obama will face an uphill climb in Congress with his bipartisan proposal to steer offshore drilling revenue into research on green energy and natural gas, key observers signaled Tuesday. Their comments come just days after Obama used a speech at a national research laboratory to pitch his Energy Security Trust proposal, which he described as a plan to protect the public from high gasoline prices. A major sticking point: the administration’s unwillingness to expand drilling to areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as Republicans have proposed.
 
Houston Chronicle: Major workforce shortage pounding energy industry — The energy industry is heading for a major shortage of skilled workers within a decade, an expert told members of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers at its annual meeting here Tuesday. There are about 4.5 million to 5 million skilled trade workers in the oil and gas industry in North America, and that’s down about a million from the mid-2000s, said Daniel Lumma, senior vice president of Kiewit Oil, Gas and Chemical North America in Houston. Another “scary statistic,” he said, is that in 10 years, about half of the industry’s skilled trades workers will have retired. All this is occurring as mega projects are underway or are on the drawing board.