Alaska Dispatch by Alex DeMarban.  In an argument on his "Restoring Liberty" blog, Joe Miller (NGP Photo)  claims President Obama's opposition to oil development is so deep he's refusing to reclaim several islands from Russia and the oil-rich seabed around them.  Some of the islands off the Kamchatka Peninsula and Russia's northern coast are hundreds of miles from Alaska, so they wouldn't be easy to maintain. They include Wrangel Island, where American naturalist John Muir once landed as part of an expedition that claimed the island for the U.S.   Oil tax debate [...]

The American Energy Alliance says, "If the President's allies would stop suing, we could double U.S. proven reserves he refers to as "only 2% of the world's oil" right away."   Bloomberg (2/22/12) reports: Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s air pollution permits for offshore oil drilling in Alaska were challenged by environmental groups who said the permits violate the U.S. Clean Air Act…The Alaska Wilderness League and eight other organizations filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Feb. 17, asking it to review two permits the U.S. [...]

Here is how to order Cindy Roberts' (NGP Photo) new gas pipeline book, Cracking the Code 2012: A Citizen's Guide to the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Discussion. HOUSE MAJORITY.  Yesterday the Full House of Representatives passed H.R. 3408, with a bipartisan vote of 237-187.  The legislation is a bipartisan plan to expand offshore energy production, open less than three percent of ANWR for oil and natural gas production, encourage the development of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West, and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.  The plan will [...]

 Calgary Herald by Dan Healing.  Oilsands producer Cenovus Energy Inc. has sent its first shipment of crude oil to China, beating the opening of the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline by about five years.  *   Duluth News Tribune.  New pipeline from North Dakota's booming oil patch to Minnesota.... Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Indians and Alaska Native Affairs held a legislative hearing on H.R. 3973, the Native American Energy Act that promotes and encourages increased energy production on tribal lands by reducing government barriers and streamlining burdensome procedures.  “For too long, [...]

The National Marine Fisheries Service is holding a public hearing in Anchorage TODAY from noon to 2 pm at the Loussac Library on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean.  Anchorage NGP readers will want to attend the  hearing and present brief testimony. The DEIS is highly problematic and the  restrictions and mitigation measures it proposes would severely compromise the economic feasibility of any drilling program and make development of leases improbable.  Below is a link to the Resource Development Council for Alaska Action Alert, which [...]