KTUU by Rebecca Palsha.  Gov. Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) wants major changes to the state's oil and gas production tax. He announced his proposal Monday morning and, so far, it looks like the oil industry's on board.  

ADN by Sean Cockerham.  Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) on Tuesday begins his first legislative session as Alaska's elected governor, freed from his caretaker status as Sarah Palin's (NGP Photo) replacement. He'll try to lower the oil tax championed by Palin and push forward on the multibillion-dollar Susitna dam.  Parnell comes into the three-month legislative session enjoying a state budget reserve of about $10 billion, the envy of cash-strapped states around the nation. Big money from high oil prices and the oil tax have flowed to the state even as North Slope crude production [...]

KTUU.  Industry leaders and environmentalists are calling the recent shutdown of the Trans-Alaska pipeline a wake-up call, but for different reasons. 

Oilweek.  A report that Ottawa won´t provide subsidies to the long-stalled Mackenzie natural gas pipeline is casting further doubt on the project´s future. Your author is on the way to Kenai for a speech and program (see below).

ADN by Lisa Demer.  The shutdown of the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline continued for a second day Sunday as engineers and regulators worked on how to safely get oil flowing again in the dead of winter. ADN, from PNA by Eric Lidji (NGP Photo-r).  Exxon Mobil has asked state regulators to increase the rate it charges to ship oil on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline to in-state destinations by about 22 percent.  Alaska Dispatch by Frank Murkowski (NGP Photo-l).  I recently wrote an article describing why ACES, Alaska's oil tax system, needs to [...]

ADN by Casey Grove.  The 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline is shut down due to a leak at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope. ADN by Rosemary Shinohara.  Anchorage's cash-strapped local government, the state and a handful of other Alaska communities got multimillion-dollar windfalls in December -- additional 2006 property tax payments from owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline as the result of a state Superior Court decision upping the assessed value of the pipeline. ADN Op-Ed by Jeff Pantages.  Before one barrel of oil went down the pipeline, the [...]

ADN and AP by Mary Pemberton.  Rep. Edward Markey (Photo) on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area. If successful, the move would put the refuge -- and its estimated 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil -- beyond the reach of oil companies perhaps forever.  (Comment:  While Congressman Markey is a raving lunatic who blindly supports every crackpot, environmentally extreme idea, that doesn't excuse the AP from producing a biased report.  First, the writer editorializes a news story by creating the specter of [...]

(Comment: Yesterday (Scroll down) we reported that the EPA's refusal to reject petitions to deny OCS air quality permits for Chukchi and Beaufort Sea activities next summer could at best delay exploration another year or at worst quash Alaska's Arctic OCS potential for a long time to come.  -dh) We commend Governor Sean Parnell's (NGP Photo) leadership in this area, best illustrated by his response to the EPA decision: “It is extremely disheartening that Shell has been unsuccessful in trying to get this critical permit for almost four years,” Governor [...]