The Straight Good News, by Gillian Steward.  NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair might as well have declared war on the West.

Gov. Parnell says energy relief on its way to Fairbanks, but not right away, The Republic

Tonight, BLM Officials Will Be Taking Testimony On A Ridiculous Question:

"Shall bureaucrats diminish or stop resource development In America’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska at a time when gas prices are high, employment is low, TAPS is 2/3 empty, the national and state treasuries need more revenue, and when America has already designated NPR-A to be a National Petroleum Reserve–not a memorial to environmental extremism?"  Even the calmist, most reserved citizen must ask out of a sense of responsible outrage, "how utterly stupid, incompetent and economically suicidal can the Federal government and its environmental extremist allies get?" 

Last week we "Counted the ways Alaska is being assaulted by the Federal government".  Tonight, Steve Pratt, CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance Alaska, BOEM, OCS, RDC, ANWR, ACES, AGIA, Photo by Dave Harbourdoors open at 6 PM (but we’ll arrive earlier) at the Campbell Creek Science Center in Anchorage for the Bureau of Land Management to take testimony on a management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska.  Consumer Energy Alliance President, Steve Pratt (NGP Photo) observes that, "Despite the fact that federal law forbids the federal government from even studying setting aside additional areas as wilderness or special conservation areas, two of the options being proposed by BLM do just that."  Pratt told NGP that, "Alternative D is the alternative least likely to shut down oil and gas exploration in the Reserve and in the Chukchi Sea.  Please consider testifying at the hearing; at a minimum, please take a few minutes to register your views through the following link."  http://consumerenergyalliance.org/calls-to-action/allow-energy-access-in-the-alaskan-petroleum-reserve/.  

We urge readers in the Anchorage area should once again gather to show the flag and make sure the public record of this proceding reflects reasonable views of NPR-A’s proper role in bolstering Alaska’s economy and the country’s national security.  -dh

Here is an instructive note from Carl Portman (NGP Photo), Resource Development Carl Portman, Resource Development Council for Alaska, BOEM, OCS, RDC, ANWRCouncil for Alaska:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a public hearing this Thursday, May 24 at the Campbell Creek Science Center in Anchorage on the Draft Integrated Activity Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS) for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The meeting begins with an open house at 6 p.m., followed by the public hearing at 7 p.m.

RDC encourages you to attend and testify, presenting brief comments urging BLM to open all of the energy reserve’s subsurface to oil and gas leasing, with balanced surface protections which do not preclude onshore development and transportation of potential offshore oil to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Decisions to be made as part of this plan include oil and gas leasing availability, surface protections, Wild and Scenic River recommendations, and Special Area designations. The NPR-A IAP/EIS presents four alternative approaches for the planning effort.

Environmental groups are rallying their ranks to testify in favor of closing more than half of the reserve to oil development. The areas they want to see in special area designations (de-facto wilderness) are among the most prospective in NPR-A.

For comment points and additional information, please see the RDC Action Alert at:

http://www.akrdc.org/alerts/2012/draftnpraplanalert.html

Hope to see you at the hearing. I recommend arriving by 6:30 to sign-up early.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Consumer Energy Alliance links by Rebecca Brown:
 
 
 
And, from the American Energy Alliance this week:
 
Wall Street Journal (5/22/12) reports: Those who doubt that market forces still have the power to transform the world aren’t paying attention to America’s revitalized energy sector

 
Fuel Fix (5/23/12) reports: Automobile owners in the U.S. see fuel economy as the leading element they will consider in purchasing their next car, according to a survey by Consumer Reports…
 
The Hill (5/22/12) reports: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is ramping up political pressure on Senate Republicans to drop the common practice of using legislative “holds” to block confirmation of top officials…“I think it is a crazy situation when the work of the people of the United States can’t get done because the Senate won’t confirm highly qualified people who are nominated and have great support,” Salazar said Tuesday…
 
National Journal (5/23/12) reports: No one needs to tell consumers about the importance of energy security. 
 
Roll Call(5/23/12) reports: President Barack Obama’s first Earth Day proclamation in 2009 was an urgent call to address global warming. This year? The word “climate” didn’t even get a mention…


CNN Money (5/24/12) reports: It doesn’t feel like we’re in Kansas anymore…Oil rigs are springing up in farmer’s fields. "No vacancy" signs hang in the windows of local motels, and a steady stream of trucks barrel through Main Streets. Along the state’s southern border, the once-quiet farm towns are quickly transforming into boomtowns… Hundreds of workers seeking high-paying jobs are flocking to places like Harper County, which had resorted to paying people to live there because of its declining population. Businesses are coming back from the dead and a housing shortage has caused rents to triple…Oil companies began exploring Southern Kansas over a year ago, seeing enormous potential in the area now that new technologies like horizontal drilling and fracking have made it possible to tap into the oil-rich Mississippian Limestone formation.
 
 Wall Street Journal (5/23/12) reports: Rising diesel costs last year forced Waste Management Inc. to charge customers an extra $169 million, just to keep its garbage trucks fueled. This year, the nation’s biggest trash hauler has a new defensive strategy: it is buying trucks that will run on cheaper natural gas…