Enviro Activists Stage OCS Side Show

For more information on the remaining Alaska hearings and how readers can participate, please review Monday’s posting. Please send in your comments; your opinion matters. -dh

Alex DeMarban File Photo

Polar Pioneer Rig, Chukchi Sea, Courtesy: Shell Oil

ADN by Alex DeMarban (NGP Photo). The federal government isn’t expected to hold an oil drilling lease sale in the U.S. Arctic Ocean for at least a few more years, but a meeting on the topic in Anchorage on Tuesday drew a large crowd, after environmental groups rented a room next to the leasing agency’s open house and hired a stenographer to take statements from people opposed to drilling.

The sideshow, with one protester dressed as a polar bear and others waving signs with slogans such as “Keep it in the Ground” — centered around the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s proposed 2017-2022 lease plan for the U.S. outer continental shelf. More….

About the Author: wpnorthern

Dave Harbour, publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines, is a former Chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, a Commissioner Emeritus of NARUC, NARUC's Official Representative to IOGCC and Vice Chairman of NARUC's Gas Committee. He served as Gas Committee Chairman of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners. He also served as commissioner of the Anchorage Bicentennial Commission and the Anchorage Heritage Land Bank Commission. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree: English, at Colorado State University, a Master of Science Degree: Communications-Journalism at Murray State University and graduated from Utility Regulatory School for Commissioners at Michigan State University. He served as a Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at Alaska Pacific University, taught bank marketing classes at the University of Alaska and was an English teacher at Los Alamos High School. Harbour served in ranks of Private - Captain during a 4-year assignment with the Army in Korea, Idaho, Georgia and Fort Meade and received the Meritorious Service Medal among other commendations. Harbour is also a past Chairman of the Alaska Council on Economic Education, the Alaska Oil & Gas Association Government Affairs Committee, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Export Council of Alaska and the Department of Commerce's District Export Council. He is a past President of the Alaska Press Club, American Bald Eagle Foundation, Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska and Common Sense for Alaska. Harbour was instrumental in founding the American Bald Eagle Research Institute (UAS), the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, the Downtown Anchorage Business Partnership, and Arctic Power. He also served as CEO of several small Alaska organizations, including the Anchorage Parking Authority and Action Security, Inc. Harbour is also Chairman Emeritus of the Alaska Oil & Gas Congress. Harbour's wife, Nancy, is a professional, performing arts administrator and his three boys, Todd, Benjamin and William work in the fields of environmental management, energy marketing and medicine.