7-4-17 Independence Day

Our Friend, Margy Johnson, is Executive Vice President of the Alaska Dispatch News.

Margy Johnson. Northern Gas Pipelines file photo by Dave Harbour

On the 2011 Fourth of July weekend, she opined on the importance of the oil industry to Alaska and asked, as we often have, why major beneficiaries of oil do not more actively support oil industry projects that sustain citizen and state government financial prosperity. Here are excerpts!

The University of Alaska has buildings named after some of their more generous donors: BP and Conono Phillips, and, there is a VECO conference room at APU. I can only wonder, given the circumstances, why professors weren’t there to testify in support of Chukchi development, not against it. Why don’t students understand the urgency? I am here to tell you: “No money, no schools.”

The arts community has always been a recipient of oil company dollars. Surely, when there is a public hearing of this importance, the arts community have a presence. “No money, no arts.”

…

Was the “Don’t touch my dividend crowd” in attendance? Many Alaskans think of the dividend as a divine right of the “Owner State.” It is a gift from oil. Ownership implies responsibility! There is no free lunch. No oil money, no divided. No development. No dividend.

For those who care about Alaska’s future enough to be involved, thank you. We are a resource state. To the extent that we develop resources we have a good future.

Three of the first five presidents died on July 4. From left, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. (Courtesy: LA Times/Getty Images)

Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-july-fourth-presidents-20170704-story.html

July 4, 2017

When three presidents died on the Fourth of July, Americans saw the work of God.

By Melissa Etehad

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.