5-6-16 Compliments to Shell and Congratulations to TransCanada!

CBC.ca TransCanada gets final permits for Coastal GasLink pipeline to Kitimat,  CBC.ca.  The 650-kilometre pipeline would link natural gas fields in northeastern ... "If I had just known...." by Dave Harbour Sometimes I look back and think, "If I had just known my dear friend or family member was going to die last week, I'd have spent more time with him/her and....   If.... If...."   In my more rational moments, I recall that while I cannot change the past -- and should not let the past dominate my thinking [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:26-09:00May 6th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Arctic Policy, Canadian Energy Policy, Commentary, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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4-28-16 Alaska And Its Democratic Socialist Look-Alike, Venezuela

THE HILL: Energy will play a major role in at least five races that could determine control of the Senate next year.  President Obama’s controversial climate policy is looming large in Ohio and Illinois, where the coal industry still employs thousands, while battle lines are being drawn in Colorado, pitting environmentalists against oil and gas companies over drilling. Read the full story here "Venezuela doesn't have enough money to pay for its money", by Bloomberg's Andrew Rosati.  (Full story here: http://tinyurl.com/jmn46sn) Please review the above story.  Here [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:26-09:00April 28th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Commentary, Interstate Gas, Intrastate Gas, LNG|0 Comments
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4-20-16 Murkowski Scores for Alaska and U.S. – PLUS – Does Alaska’s Legislature Have the Moral High Ground From Which To Seek “More Revenue” Before Serious “Cutting”?

BREAKING NEWS.  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today led the Senate’s approval of broad, bipartisan energy legislation that contains a wide range of provisions vital to Alaska’s future. The bill, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, was authored by Murkowski and.... (More) Senate Unanimously Approves Murkowski’s Major Lands and Water Package for Energy Bill Alaska U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (NGP File Photo) NGP File Photo Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved two amendments offered by Senator Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo) to [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:27-09:00April 20th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Arctic Policy, Commentary, Federal Progress, You Read It Here First|0 Comments
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4-19-16 The Alliance Tells It Like It Is: We Like That

We like it when the respected people and organizations among us, "tell it like it is".  Below (Left), is what the Alliance's Ak Headlamp said yesterday about Alaska's fiscal crisis and how leaders are dealing with it.  -dh Lynn Helms, Director, N.D. Department of Mineral Resources. NGP File Photo.   Billings Gazette.   North Dakota oil production had a smaller decline than expected in February as more companies put fracking crews to work to maintain cash flow, the state’s top oil regulator said.     ...     Director [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:27-09:00April 19th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Commentary, Fracking, Interstate Gas|0 Comments
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4-15-16 Op-Ed: Alaska’s Budget Talk: All Bark and No Bite?

The Road Less Traveled by Dave Harbour A path less taken.... A road more oft taken. Yesterday's editorial may seem like the writer has no empathy or regard for elected leaders. Au contraire. We have run for public office twice ourselves and lost twice.  We know the dedication and loneliness required to enter the political arena.  We appreciate the courage and focus and determination one musters to run for office.  One appreciates the long hours of candidate work, the door-to-door, the fund raising, the volunteer coordination, the interviews [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:28-09:00April 15th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Arctic Policy, Commentary, Reader Comment, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Alaska’s Budget Crisis Dominates Legislature’s Weekend – Alberta’s In A Similar Boat! Will Alaskan and Albertan Officials Seek To Keep Government Special Interests ‘Whole’ At The Expense of Taxpayers, Ratepayers and Consumers?

Alberta Premier Rachael Notley, CBC Photo "Tax it, regulate it, subsidize it" Added by ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET Editor on April 8, 2016. Saved under Editorial Watching some of Alaska’s most wealthy, powerful people and organizations with a dependency on state government as they push for all manner of taxes and offer plans to tap into the Permanent Fund earnings to help the state make ends meet and protect their bottom line is not a pretty sight. Ronald Reagan Sculpture Rather than suggesting we should [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:29-09:00April 9th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Canadian Energy Policy, Commentary, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Alaska Is Making Critical Decisions That Affect Its Long Term Investment Climate

Alaska is making critical budget decisions that will affect its investment climate for a generation! With its unsustainable spending we have long recommended that Alaska decision makers not increase taxes or impose new taxes until significant cuts are made in entitlement programs and employee costs. As the current legislative session nears an end, we see pressure mounting for new taxes.  We see no decisive movement toward containing employee CPI and step wage increases or negotiating more prudent state employee contracts.  And, we see no significant effort to cut entitlement programs [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:29-09:00April 8th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Canadian Energy Policy, Commentary, Government Waste, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Alaska And Alberta Struggle To Save Oil Patch Economies – Scroll Down For Today’s Commentary, “U.S. & Canadian Environmental Laws/Regs Have Moved Beyond ‘Reasonable’ To Becoming Weapons Against Capitalism”

Calgary Herald/CP.  Canada’s environment minister won’t say if the country can meet its climate change commitments and at the same time green-light new pipeline projects.  Catherine McKenna told reporters.... Larry Persily, former Alaska gas pipeline federal coordinator. NGP Photo. See Larry Persily's just released energy links, mostly dealing with Alaska's LNG competitors.  Meanwhile, we urge readers to absorb the wisdom in the AK-HEADLAMP report below: Increasing oil & gas taxes in a low price or any environment is not a strategy that will attract investment [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:29-09:00April 7th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Arctic Policy, Commentary, Competition, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal, Federal Coordinator, Federal Obstruction, Global Warming, Keystone XL, LNG, NEB, Rule Of Law, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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ISER Research Announcements 6:59 PM (20 hours ago) to iser_publicati. ​ISER Research Matters is our effort to quickly let Alaskans know about research findings from the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), at the University of Alaska Anchorage. We post these periodically on our website and also distribute them by e-mail. If you’d like to be removed from or added to our e-mail list, visit http://matrix.uaa.alaska.edu/mailman/listinfo/iser_publications, or send us a message at ResearchMatters@uaa.alaska.edu. Research Matters No. 99: Short-Run Economic Impacts of Alaska Fiscal Options March 31, 2016 A report analyzing the potential short-run economic effects of eleven options for reducing Alaska’s huge budget deficit is now complete. The authors are ISER economists Gunnar Knapp, Matthew Berman, and Mouhcine Guettabi. They looked at potential effects of several kinds of state spending cuts, new taxes, saving less of Permanent Fund earnings, and reducing the Permanent Fund dividend. They emphasize that they don’t advocate or oppose any option, but rather intend to help Alaskans understand and compare the potential short-run effects on income and jobs of different ways of reducing the deficit. In the big picture, they found: • Different ways of collecting money from Alaskans affect those with higher and lower incomes in significantly different ways. • Anything the state does to reduce the deficit will cost the economy money and jobs. But spending some of the Permanent Fund earnings the state currently saves would not have any short-run economic effects. In the longer run, saving less would slow growth of the Permanent Fund and reduce earnings. • Because the deficit is so big, the overall economic effects of closing the deficit will also be big. To see their detailed findings, download the report, Short-Run Economic Impacts of Alaska Fiscal Options​ (PDF, 4.3MB). If you have questions, get in touch with the authors: Gunnar.Knapp@uaa.alaska.edu, Matthew.Berman@uaa.alaska.edu, and mguettabi@alaska.edu.

Since Alaska's Fiscal Crisis Involves Oil & Gas Industry Investment Security (i.e. will government seek a higher take from the private sector in order to preserve public sector spending), we provide the economic report, below, from Gunnar Knapp (NGP Photo) of the University of Alaska-Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research.  -dh http://matrix.uaa.alaska.edu/mailman/listinfo/iser_publications, or send us a message at ResearchMatters@uaa.alaska.edu. Research Matters No. 99: Short-Run Economic Impacts of Alaska Fiscal Options March 31, 2016 A report analyzing the potential short-run economic effects of eleven options for reducing Alaska’s huge [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:30-09:00April 1st, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Government Waste, Uncategorized, You Read It Here First|0 Comments
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Alaska’s Fiscal Crisis Is All About Irresponsible Spending and Responsible Natural Resource Development

Alaska's Fiscal Crisis: Irresponsible Spending vs. Responsible Resource Development  *     *     * i.e. Socialism vs. Free Enterprise *     *     * Socialism seeks to control the means, transportation and distribution of production.  Two socialists are competing for the Democrat presidential primary.  One of those socialists has been endorsed by Alaska democrats.  Alaska's democrats are in a partnership with Alaska's "independent" governor.  The Governor wants equity control over a gas pipeline project and exercises bureaucratic control over [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:30-09:00March 30th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, ANWR, Arctic Policy, Canadian Energy Policy, Commentary, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal, Federal Obstruction, Global Warming, Interior Energy Project (IEP), Intrastate Gas, Keystone XL, LNG|0 Comments
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Help Hilcorp Today!

Hilcorp Alaska, LLC is currently pursuing the necessary permits and authorizations to develop the Liberty reservoir several miles offshore the central North Slope.  The first major step in this process is the approval of the Development and Production Plan (DPP), which Hilcorp recently filed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). BOEM has extended the public comment period on the preparation of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) to Monday, March 28, 2016.    Click here to provide comments. Then click on the "Comment Now" button. [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:31-09:00March 28th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, ANWR, Arctic Policy, Competition, Federal Obstruction, Fracking, Global Warming, Interstate Gas, Intrastate Gas, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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3-10-16 Alaska’s Fiscal Crisis – Nancy Reagan

Nancy Reagan BREAKING NEWS....ADN by Rashah McChesney.  Alaska Governor Bill Walker (NGP Photo) had a press conference today.  It seems to have been much ado about?  Please enlighten us on what this report means aside from some consolidation and a little elimination of duplication, maybe.  Pardon us if we are confusing "political optics that something is being done to courageously face 'Alaska's Fiscal Crisis'," with something important that is, indeed, being accomplished -- like eliminating one or more of these agencies.  Of course, any action will have to be delayed until a [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:31-09:00March 10th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Canadian Energy Policy, Commentary, Personal|0 Comments
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3-9-16 Alaska’s Fiscal Crisis

Alaska's Fiscal Crisis by Dave Harbour Yesterday, I met with a number of Alaskan friends who are private sector leaders. *     *     * All readers of our news and commentary know that since the turn of the century we have been warning of the perfect fiscal storm preparing to ravage the 49th State. We have described the reasons for Alaska's pending fiscal crisis which have been as clear as "neon painted handwriting on the wall": Today's related Alaska Fiscal Crisis news: ADN, by Alex DeMarban.  (NGP Photo) [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:31-09:00March 9th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Commentary|0 Comments
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3-2-16 Don’t Blame “Global Warming/Climate Change” On Alaska Or TransCanada Pipelines!!!

CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT ALASKA'S FAULT Premature Alaska Pipeline/LNG Funding DON'T BLAME PIPELINES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE!!! To Russ Girling, the chief executive of TransCanada, the relationship between pipelines and climate change is clear....  (CBC by Tracy Johnson.) TODAY'S Call To Action: OCS! Today's Consumer Energy Alliance Relevant Energy Links! Juneau Empire Op-Ed, By STEVE BOWHAY Alaskans face some serious challenges that are being overlooked, as we witness the demise of the oil industry. Some of the people who are part of the consensus on climate change want to completely ban the use of fossil fuels because of climate change. If [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:32-09:00March 2nd, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Arctic Policy, Global Warming|0 Comments
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2-12-16 Credit Worthiness Downgrades Affect Public & Private Sectors

For Alaska Legislators: see this relevant note today from a long-time Alaska friend and colleague, Terry Brady (NGP Photo). From Akheadlamp.com. Alaska House suspended action on all bills not related to the State budget.  Credit Worthiness Downgrades Affect Public & Private Sectors   by   Dave Harbour   We have covered Alaska's deteriorating credit worthiness as judged by rating agency analysts.   New York, February 11, 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) concluded rating reviews on 11 Ba-rated US exploration and production (E&P) companies. Moody's confirmed three companies' ratings, and downgraded [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:27:33-09:00February 12th, 2016|Alaska Taxes, Alaska's Fiscal Crisis, Alaskanomics, Commentary, Reader Comment|0 Comments
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