9-4-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:45-09:00September 4th, 2012|Uncategorized|

Calgary Herald by Shiela Pratt.  After a bumpy ride this summer, Enbridge will face a tough grilling this week on its $6 billion Northern Gateway project as public hearings enter their final phase in which interveners can challenge the company’s evidence.  Enbridge will square off with unions and First Nations while big oilsands players, including MEG Energy, Cenovus, Suncor, Nexen and Total appear in a joint witness panel. The Alberta government is also prepared to appear for the “questioning” phase of the federal Joint Review Panel hearings to examine the [...]

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9-3-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:45-09:00September 4th, 2012|Uncategorized|

Fairbanks News Miner/AP.  Federal regulators have stopped the review process for an Alaska gas pipeline until TransCanada Corp. decides whether the pipeline will carry gas across Canada to Lower 48 markets or it will pursue a liquefied natural gas option.  

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9-2-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:45-09:00September 3rd, 2012|Uncategorized|

Calgary Herald by Kelly Cryderman.  Even if oil and gas markets jump upwards this year, Finance Minister Doug Horner said the province must still grapple with the predicament of how to cash in on higher world oil prices for Alberta’s bargain-basement bitumen.  One day after projecting a daunting deficit as high as $3 billion this year, Horner said the price differential Alberta producers receive for their oil is not going to shrink as fast as commodity markets could rise in the coming months.

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9-1-12

By |2016-03-13T03:55:24-09:00September 2nd, 2012|Federal Obstruction|

ADN by Sean Cockerham.  The Obama administration has cleared another hurdle for Shell to drill in Alaska's Arctic waters -- the second in as many days -- changing the company's air pollution limits so its drill ship can operate in the Chukchi Sea.  Shell told the Environmental Protection Agency in June that the company was able to meet overall air quality standards. But it said a set of generators on the drilling rig Noble Discoverer fell short of the specific requirements for nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions.  The EPA now [...]

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8-31-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:45-09:00August 31st, 2012|Uncategorized|

  Alaska Dispatch by Craig Medred.  U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (NGP Photo) shocked even Shell itself by announcing the company could proceed with preliminary drilling of a single well in the empty sea 61 miles from this village.  Salazar did impose limits. The company must stop drilling nearly a mile short of any expected pools of oil and gas. Still, the conditional approval will allow Shell to finally get to work after six years of waiting. At Shell's headquarters in Anchorage, the mood was optimistic.       [...]

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8-30-12 Murkowski Lauds Feds For Shell Decision

By |2016-12-22T22:31:45-09:00August 30th, 2012|Alaska Taxes, Coastal Management, Commentary|

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski's (NGP Photo) office this morning  released the following comment regarding a decision by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to allow Shell to conduct preparatory work in the Chukchi Sea this summer.  “Today’s decision is a positive step that will allow Shell to begin necessary preparatory work, while maintaining the highest environmental standards to ensure the protection of the Arctic,” Murkowski said. “While we would all like to see a discovery this summer, the most important thing is for Shell to continue to make progress and [...]

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8-29-12 – Proud Of Two Legislators

By |2016-12-22T22:31:46-09:00August 29th, 2012|Federal Obstruction|

Calgary Herald by Bryce Forbes.  The pilot killed in a crash in southern Alberta on Sunday was patrolling pipelines when the plane went down. We Are Proud of Two Legislators and Lamenting Our Loss Of Faith In American 'Rule of Law" Commentary By Dave Harbour Over the last four 'Obama Years' no Alaska legislators have been more diligent than Senator Cathy Giessel (NGP Photo-R) and Representative Charisse Millett (NGP Photo) in joining with Governor Sean Parnell to oppose the continuing flood of federal attacks against Alaska natural resource development. Most recently, [...]

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8-28-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:46-09:00August 28th, 2012|Uncategorized|

ADN, by Lisa Demer.  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo), R-Alaska, on Monday wrapped up an "energy tour" of Alaska with Democratic colleague Ron Wyden (NGP Photo) of Oregon that included a renewable energy fair, a geothermal plant at Chena Hot Springs, and an offshore oil platform in Cook Inlet.  ...  "You're looking at the chairman of the energy committee here. And we're not sure if I'm looking at him or he's looking at me."  Depending on how the November elections go, either she or Wyden is poised to become chair [...]

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8-27-12 Alaska’s Governor Accuses Obama Administration of Hurting Alaska’s and America’s Economies

By |2016-12-22T22:31:46-09:00August 27th, 2012|Federal Obstruction, You Read It Here First|

Last Friday Governor Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) wrote the Chairmen of the Senate and House committees responsible for energy and natural resource policy.  He said: "At a press conference recently, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar blamed Shell Oil for the delays in drilling exploration wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.  This premise is  patently false. The attachment clearly displays a pattern of federal obstruction designed to prevent development of Alaska's abundant resource base.  Decisions by the federal administration have negatively impacted Alaska's economy and, in fact, the entire nation. Repeated federal actions have led [...]

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8-24-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:46-09:00August 24th, 2012|Uncategorized|

Kenai Peninsula Clarion.   2. What role should the Legislature play in ensuring the future energy security of Alaska? Joe Arness: Clearly, some portion of our current income stream should be dedicated to energy security. That would include both renewable and non-renewable sources. Simply giving lip service to such planning will leave us wanting as time goes by...there needs to be a funded, thoughtful program whose purpose is to review and encourage alternatives.   Cathy Giessel: Rising energy costs affect businesses and citizens. The Legislature must act to facilitate an in-state natural gas [...]

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8-23-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:46-09:00August 23rd, 2012|Uncategorized|

Vote 'No' on 2! ADN Op-Ed by Governor Frank Murkowski (NGP Photo).  The Coastal Zone Planning Initiative that will appear on the Aug. 28 primary ballot as Measure 2 is very different from the bill that passed the House 40-0 in the 2011 session of the Legislature.  As proof -- only 7 out of 60 Alaska Legislators supported Proposition 2 when it was proposed as legislation in the 2012 session of the Legislature. Remember: • There had been debate on coastal zone for two years, so Legislators were fully aware [...]

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8-22-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:46-09:00August 22nd, 2012|Uncategorized|

As we noted yesterday ("Shameful Management...."), the Financial Post report below represents a sharp contrast between comptently managed Canadian natural resource policy and incompetently managed U.S. natural resource policy.    Scroll down for additional evidence from Chairman Doc Hastings (NGP Photo) that the American Executive Branch is ill-prepared and/or ill-disposed to serve.   -dh Financial Post.  Stephen Harper is on his annual visit to the North this week, quoting Robert Service and boosting the region’s vast resource potential. “The North” holds a particular place in the Canadian psyche, somewhat similar to that of [...]

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8-21-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:47-09:00August 21st, 2012|Commentary, Federal Obstruction|

A Shameful Management of the Country's Resources   The Obama Administration is again considering use/misuse of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, designed to be used in a national emergency.  The average price per barrel paid for the SPR oil is less than $30.  Today's price hovers around $100.  (Could the real motivation be arbitrage?) At the same time, this month the Obama Administration announced the BLM plans to essentially lock up the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) at the same time the USFWS hopes to recommend wilderness designations for the approved oil [...]

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8-20-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:47-09:00August 20th, 2012|Alaska Taxes, Commentary|

Several days ago we wrote an editorial entitled, TAPS and Spend.  One of our decade-long readers, Dan Kish, responded with the following comment: Dave: Again this winter, could gas supply for Alaska's most populous area be at risk?  (See Lisa Demer's ADN article.)  Commentary: Over five years ago, three of five members of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska voted to reject a gas supply agreement (GSA) negotiated between Enstar and Marathon that would have provided for Enstar's Southcentral Alaska needs through 2016 at roughly Henry Hub prices (i.e. Today, $2.19/MCF vs. current RCA-approved [...]

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8-17-12

By |2016-12-22T22:31:47-09:00August 17th, 2012|Uncategorized|

Publisher's Note:  Yesterday we commented (here) on Ballot Measure 2.  Several readers responded to our commentary here.   But we think today's ADN Op-ed by Consumer Energy Alliance - Alaska President Steve Pratt (NGP Photo) sums it up very well, below.   -dh   Ballot Measure 2, establishing an Alaska coastal zone management program, is bad for Alaska energy consumers. Energy costs in Alaska are high. In Southcentral, "cheap" natural gas has run its course. Fairbanks is suffering with very high fuel oil costs. Rural Alaska energy costs are even higher. A [...]

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