Today's News Observation: "Some politicians are busy trying to find detours around energy roadblocks government has created.  Other politicians are still busy creating energy roadblocks."      -dh   Calgary Herald by David Akin and Jason Fekete.  ... "We're trying to ensure major resource projects are not unnecessarily slowed down by duplicative procedures," said Environment Minister Jim Prentice (NGP Photo), regional minister for southern Alberta.  There's potentially $85 billion worth of oil and gas projects to be built in northern Canada over the next decade, including the Mackenzie Valley and Alaska pipelines, [...]

Canadian Press by Lauren Krugel.  An official working on Alaska's proposed US$30-billion Denali pipeline says there are benefits to moving the project ahead without the help from the state government, which its competitors have secured. ... "No proponent has an exclusive right to build pipelines in the United States or Canada," Bob Bleaney, general manager of Denali Canada, told the Canadian Institute's Arctic Gas Symposium on Tuesday.   ...  "Denali is proceeding outside of AGIA. We think that actually is a benefit for our project because we're not tied to those particular conditions and [...]

Alaska's economy deteriorates with lower energy production as higher industry taxes nip at the heels of departing jobs and undermine all gas pipeline projects.  Blissfully obese, the bureaucracy and budget crave more and consume our savings.  Unfunded government pension liabilities increase the debt burden to our children and threaten retirees.  Each well-intended elected official has a plan and each plan points to a different path.  Citizens with no intent to invest their own money clamor for public funding of their pet projects.  Predatory federal policies flanked by environmental activist allies [...]

E&E News (2/26, subs. req’d) reports, “Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo) will introduce legislation next week barring the president from creating or expanding any national monuments in Alaska without first obtaining congressional approval. ... "Sixty percent of land in Alaska -- some 220 million acres -- is already under federal control, large swaths of which are protected as monuments, parks and wilderness," said Murkowski spokesman Robert Dillon. "That makes it exceedingly difficult for the state to realize its full economic potential." ADN by Lisa Demer.   Twenty-one Alaska lawmakers, including half the state [...]

Master Resource by Dave Harbour.  At the NARUC Winter Meeting in Washington D.C. last week, a Study Group composed of regulatory commissioners, consultants, government and university economists, and non-profit association sponsors released their energy research report: ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF MAINTAINING OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION MORATORIA ON AND BENEATH FEDERAL LANDS.  (See our earlier NGP Moratoria Stories here, here, and here.)  (Assessment of the Combined Relative Impacts of Maintaining Moratoria and Increased Domestic Onshore and Offshore Oil and Gas Resource Estimates).   *   Related PNA story on Moratoria [...]

TransCanada's Tony Palmer (NGP Photo) to Address Alliance This Morning (Story coming tomorrow.) Federal Register: In 2005, in the above-referenced docket, FERC enacted regulations under the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act which established the procedures for conducting open seasons for the purpose of making binding commitments for the acquisition of capacity on Alaska natural gas transportation projects. TransCanada Alaska Company LLC (TC Alaska) has recently filed its request for approval of its Open Season plan for its Alaska Pipeline Project in Docket No. PF09-11-001. Denali—The Alaska Gas Pipeline LLC has publicly [...]

See Our Related Editorial: The Legislature should amend a current bill or introduce a new one which 1) at the least, eliminated the oil production tax progressivity feature and lowered the net tax rate from 25%, and 2) repealed the cruise ship tax and burdensome environmental requirements or, at the least, reduced the head tax from $50 to $5 and eliminated all other burdens established by the cruise ship voters initiative. –dh  The Alaska Standard by Dan Fagan.  Let me get this straight. Our current crop of legislators have at worst, killed [...]

See our earlier moratoria study stories here, and here. SNL Daily Gas Report, by Mark Hand.  Continued restrictions on industry access to oil and gas resources on federal lands could cost the United States more than $2.35 trillion in cumulative gross domestic product and nearly 13 million jobs through 2030, according to the results of a new study administered by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners...On Feb. 15, members of the Moratoria Study Group discussed the report at NARUC's winter committee meetings in Washington, D.C. The members went to [...]

  As a member of the NGA’s Natural Resources Committee, Governor Sean Parnell (State Photo) participated in a hearing with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the Federal Energy Regulatory Board Chairman Jon Wellinghoff (NGP Photo). Governor Parnell led the effort to amend an Endangered Species Act resolution to put more emphasis on local decision-making and economic development in land use planning decisions.  “I will continue fighting to ensure that jobs and economic recovery take a front seat in any discussions,” said Governor Parnell.   Here is the Sierra Club's Mackenzie Pipeline [...]

Alaska Dispatch by Rena Delbridge.  The state's AGIA coordinator, Mark Myers (NGP Photo-r), filled a House Finance subcommittee in on his office's work so far facilitating the state's permitting and public relations end of gasline prep. Part of the deal under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act was that the state would appoint a coordinator, modeled under the federal coordinator's (Larry Persily-NGP Photo-l) office established by the U.S. Congress to bring the alphabet soup of permitting and regulatory agencies onto the same page.   Press Trust of India.  A US Senator today [...]