Find Denali's Latest FERC Report Here Radio KENAI.  Natural gas was one topic of discussion at the community reception with Governor Sean Parnell (NGP Photo-r) on Monday. Governor Parnell discussed his hope that all of the groups involved with the two separate North Slope pipelines could come together. Later this year, both the Denali Project and the AGIA Project are expected to hold open seasons. We asked House Speaker Mike Chenault (NGP Photo-l) about the upcoming open seasons for the AGIA project and the Denali Project. He doesn’t expect the first open [...]

Rigzone.com.   2010 will be a momentous year for Alaska’s decades-long dream of a natural gas pipeline. Both the TransCanada-Exxon project and the BP-Conoco project known as Denali are on track to hold open seasons this year.   *      The Hub.  NEB to hear final arguments on Mackenzie Valley Project.  *  Yesterday, Denali's President Bud Fackrell (NGP photo) announced his team's Open Season schedule.    *   Yesterday's FERC Open Season Anchorage workshop agenda and link.  (Our earlier alert.)     *    Wall Street Journal.  An Alaska Superior Court judge [...]

Below is the Story - Go Here To Learn How To Comment - Our Editorials EPA is proposing a new modified permit for public comment, due to substantial changes needed to the proposed permit, including changes needed to address the public comments. The new comment period begins January 8, 2010 and ends February 17, 2010. The public comment period for the August 2009 proposed air permit closed on October 20, 2009.The proposed Clean Air Act permit would allow Shell to operate the Frontier Discoverer and its associated support vessels to explore for oil and [...]

FERC's Michael Kadish thoughtfully informs Alaskans and other stakeholders of an important upcoming gas pipeline workshop..  Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will convene an Open Season Pre-Filing Workshop January 12, 2010, in Anchorage, Alaska, for the Alaska natural gas transportation projects. The purpose of the workshop will be to provide interested parties an opportunity to learn about and discuss the procedures and process for commenting upon and holding an open season.  For more information, see this FERC link.   Wings Tours, an Egyptian tour company, has carefully scheduled [...]

ADN Editorial.  "For the first time in 22 years the (Alaska) economy did not grow this year and we will end it with fewer jobs than we had in January," Dr. Goldsmith noted. He also expects the Alaska economy to contract next year, with tourism facing the most obvious impediments to growth. Cairo Report: On New Years Eve day, we toured the Blue Mosque (NGP Photo) by day and were treated to a cutural New Years Eve dancing show over dinner at the Cairo Ramses Hotel (NGP Photo of Janna [...]

National Journal by Chuck Gray (NGP Photo).  NARUC strongly supports improved energy efficiency as the first option for achieving greater energy security, but conservation alone will not be enough to address anticipated demand. To become truly energy independent, Congress and the Obama Administration will need to keep all options on the table—efficiency, renewables, fossil fuels, natural gas, and nuclear. All of these fuels have domestic components, and all must be considered if we are going to wean ourselves from inhospitable foreign energy sources.  (See our February 2010 story, 'After The Moratoria Report') [...]

Globe and Mail by Nathan VanderKlippe.  A decades-old northern dream has taken a major step ahead after the panel that was assigned to review the Mackenzie Valley natural gaspipeline concluded that it should go forward.  The Joint Review Panel, which has spent the past half-decade assessing the project, has concluded the $16.2-billion project “would deliver valuable and lasting overall benefits and avoid significant adverse environmental impacts.”  But in a 679-page report, the panel lays out a number of measures designed to slow the pace of Arctic development the pipeline could spur.... 12-31-09 Cairo [...]

ADN by Don Hunter.  Two of the state's top politicians Tuesday said the state should finance an aggressive round of scientific research of Cook Inlet's beluga whales to counter a federal conclusion that the whales are endangered and need special habitat protections.  Congressman Don Young (NGP Photo-r) and Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan (NGP Photo-l), speaking at a joint news conference at City Hall, also said they are asking the government to extend for 60 days a comment period on designating critical habitat for the whales. The Anchorage Assembly earlier unanimously passed [...]

1.  Alaska Dispatch by Rena Delbridge (NGP Photo).  Some lawmakers say there's a limit to the amount of taxation the oil industry -- which provides 90 percent of the revenue to Alaska's state treasury -- will tolerate. There's a line, they say, and if the state crosses it, oil companies will no longer be willing to keep reinvesting their profits in developing Alaska's resources.  That line -- so fine it's invisible -- could be the centerpiece of debate in the legislative session that starts Jan. 19. 2.  Radio Kenai by [...]

1.  Last Thursday, the FERC approved the Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P. Oregon LNG project. 2.  Slave River Journal by Shawn Bell.  In the shadow of the Joint Review Panel's imminent decision on the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline, the GNWT Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment presented a dire picture of the Mackenzie Valley without a pipeline to proponents in Calgary last week.  "I want to provide you with a mental picture of this small town[Inuvik]," Bob McLeod (NGP Photo) said in a Calgary speech on Dec. 13. "It is a town [...]