Reuters by Yereth Rosen.  The cost estimate for that 1,700-mile project is $32 billion to $41 billion, according to the TransCanada-Exxon Mobil open-season plan. Those companies have received FERC permission to start a 90-day open season on April 30.  Denali President Bud Fackrell (NGP Photo) said the company has 'a really high-quality design and execution plan' and believes its $35 billion estimate is well supported.  'We have to give confidence to the shippers that we know what this project is going to cost. We feel very good about that,' Fackrell [...]

This Morning, Denali Will File Open Season Plans With FERC   At noon yesterday, NorthRim Bank founder and chairman, Marc Langland (NGP Photo) hosted a large community luncheon briefing at the Denaina Convention Center in Anchorage to discuss an "Alaska Economic Overview", prepared by bank economist Mark Edwards (NGP Photo), supported by private economist Dan Dickinson (NGP Photo-r).   Immediately afterward, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo) convened a 'roundtable' of stakeholders to discuss implications to Alaska of implementation of the Endangered Species Act.   ...story in progress....       [...]

Beware a Divided and Storm-Tossed Ship of State by Dave Harbour If Rena Delbridge is right (NGP Photo), and she always seems to be, her Alaska Dispatch article yesterday reveals the tip of an iceberg that could well sink Ship Alaska.   For our ship of state to have a chance of traversing a deep sea amid many economic and social storms--raging nationally and here at home--we must work together.  Working against each other could let our vulnerable vessel slip broadside into a deep trough before the coming seas. Absent [...]

State Senate Leader Further Erodes Investment Climate: Producers Would Pay $2 Billion More/Year When/If Gas Pipeline Flows! -dh Senator Murkowski's Thursday Speech Video   Yesterday morning, while speaking to a 7:30 a.m. crowd at the Resource Development in Anchorage, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo, w/RDC President Wendy Lindskoog) raised her vibrating Blackberry and announced that the Environmental Protection Agency had, in wake of President Barack Obama's OCS proclamation this week, approved Shell's Chukchi Sea Clean Air Act permit. Shell Alaska's Vice President, Pete Slaiby smiled as eyes turned on him [...]

FERC Approves TransCanada's Open Season Plan (See Edmonton Journal) Text of President Obama's OCS Speech Commentary: We have provided an editorial on this subject to a national publication and will either display it here if it is not printed or reprint it after publication.  The bottom line is that the President's announcement yesterday has the effect of re-establishing moratoria areas that burden the economy, society and even the environment (as the recent moratoria study demonstrated).  Some areas he purports to include in leasing plans, will really just be put through a [...]

Comment:  Yesterday we appeared on the Dan Fagan (NGP Photo, w/author) radio program (Link coming) to discuss current coastal management, tax, and regulatory issues affecting the survival of Alaska's economy.  While we focused on a number of immediate threats to the economy, I wish we could have had time to throw KUDOS to several legislators who battled for improvement of Alaska's tax structure (like Rep. Craig Johnson) and incentives for providing more gas exploration and storage in Cook Inlet (like Rep. Mike Hawker) and to Governor Sean Parnell NGP (Photo-l) for his leadership [...]

In-State Allies Support Federal Efforts to Impose on Alaska's Economy a "Death by a Thousand Cuts" by Dave Harbour PNA.  Mads Christensen, Nordic executive director for Greenpeace International, called for a moratorium on human activity--except subsistence--throughout vast expanses of the Arctic at a conference in Tromso last month.  He said this restriction would fill a current 'governance gap' in Arctic policy.      Earlier this month we reported that Governor Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) said miners face an uphill battle against federal regulators, and his office is "fighting with everything we've got" against [...]

More Inducements for Alaska Gasline Inducement Act Participants by  Dave Harbour   Article in progress....   Financial Post by Diane Francis.  Imperial Oil and its Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline partners announced last week a postponement of the project for five more years. That gas, and Alaska's, may never be shipped in North America but more likely be bought by Asians then converted into LNG for shipment home. Calgary Herald by Deborah Yedlin.  "One of the lessons from the Mackenzie Valley pipeline is to make sure that the environmental reviews work [...]

Could A Government Sponsored ANS Bullet Line Kill Cook Inlet Private Investment in Gas Exploration and Storage? Alaska Railroad Testimony, 3-25-10 Commentary By Dave Harbour Juneau Empire by Pat Forgery.  Some Alaska legislators are promising big things by developing Alaska's natural gas for use by its citizens, but Gov. Sean Parnell and others are warning that such hopes may be overblown.   Day before yesterday, the Alaska House of Representatives passed two well-intended pieces of natural gas related legislation which could both affect the Alaska Railroad's (ARR) mission and operations.  The [...]

 One asks: If "Tax Certainty" is the most important issue in encouraging construction of a gas pipeline, then what good are all the meetings and all the legislation if tax certainty is not provided?  See stories and David MacDowell video below...and our earlier commentary.  -dh Yesterday, Commonwealth North's president, Joe Beedle introduced Mary Ann Pease (NGP Photo) to brief members on results of its recently published energy report," with help from committee member, Brian Davies.  The report focused greatest attention on residential, business and commercial energy supply and deliverability issues affecting the most populous [...]

Find Full Energy Report Here Commonwealth North will present its recently published energy report, Energy for a Sustainable Alaska: The Railbelt Predicament, this morning from 7-8am in the Hilton Hotel Ballroom in Anchorage. This report addresses the serious concerns over deliverability and production in Southcentral Alaska and the not so convenient truth that our energy security is at great risk. Mary Ann Pease (NGP Photo), Co-chair of the Energy Study Group, will present Commonwealth North's findings and address some of the steps that need to be taken immediately to prepare [...]