6-25-15 Uphill Road For An Alaska LNG Project

It's An Uphill Road For An Alaska LNG Project Whether most Alaskans appreciate it or not, the best hope for a successful, Alaska LNG project is that Alaska's largest producers support it.  Today, we analyze why that so. by Dave Harbour Alaskans have consistently supported higher taxes on Alaska's oil companies and higher spending on social services -- with some exceptions.   The Alaska tax and spend model is not unlike the model employed nationally, in Washington D.C., except national leaders are capable of spending more than they take in by merely [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:15-09:00June 25th, 2015|Alaska Taxes, Commentary, LNG|0 Comments
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6-18-15 Why Shale Critics Have It Wrong

Oil Tax Commentary   WSJ.  Video interview, "Why shale critics are wrong." Calgary Herald by Stephen Ewart.  With the NDP government’s first throne speech Monday, Premier Rachel Notley began disappointing the party’s core supporters in the environmental community by championing exports of Alberta oil to global markets as part of a Canadian energy strategy. Recently, we commented on the onerous similarities between oil tax perspectives of Governors Kasich of Ohio and Palin of Alaska.   Alaska has just now, after nearly a decade of economic downturn, managed to repeal and overcome some of the damage done by Palin's populist, anti-oil tax policy. [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:16-09:00June 18th, 2015|Alaska Taxes, Commentary|0 Comments
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6-16-15 Is Alaska’s Governor Seeking Control Of The Ak LNG Project; Or, A Governent Owned Project?

Alaska Governor Bill Walker's June 8 Letter To AK LNG Participants Doesn't Exactly Radiate Cooperation  by Dave Harbour (In fairness, we wish to provide this comment from an anonymous reader.  -dh) Today, we ask if Alaska Governor Bill Walker (NGP Photo) is seeking cooperation with participants in the AK LNG project, or is he seeking to control those free market participants, or is he angling toward a separate, government owned project?   Here is a letter Walker sent yesterday to House and Senate resource committee leaders which included the copy of a letter [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:16-09:00June 16th, 2015|Alaska Taxes, Commentary, LNG, Reader Comment|0 Comments
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6-3-15

TODAY: “The Environmental Protection Agency released the final version of a new rule that will dramatically increase the agency’s power, and will devastate Americans’ ability to use their own property and their own water." Pedro van Meurs Mexico Meeting This Summer  National Energy Board Staffing AP/ADN by Dan Joling (NGP Photo).  Ten environmental groups Tuesday sued a federal agency over its approval of a plan by Royal Dutch Shell PLC for exploratory petroleum drilling off Alaska's northwest coast. Comment on Arctic exploration.  We have the highest regard for Shell, its employees and its [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:17-09:00June 3rd, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal, You Read It Here First|0 Comments
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5-29-15 Economic Death Spirals and More….

Economic Death Spirals: Part I By Dave Harbour Economic Death Spirals are never pleasant and can vary in impact.  As a former utility regulator, I was always on the lookout for potential utility death spirals, for their impact could bankrupt utility investors, make utility rates unaffordable for consumers and/or threaten the lives of those dependent on life sustaining heat, light, water and sanitary services.  A utility death spiral can strike when rates become too high for consumers to afford.  In such a case, fewer consumers can pay for the service.  [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:18-09:00May 29th, 2015|Commentary, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal|0 Comments
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5-26-15 With Approval Of So Many At Home And Abroad, We Name Chuck Becker: “Alaska’s Diplomat”

Point of Personal Privilege: Scroll Down For An Update On, "Alaska's Diplomat", Our Friend, Chuck Becker  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo), Friday issued the following statement in response to a letter that 18 Senate Democrats sent to Interior Secretary Jewell, calling on the Obama administration to stop energy production in the Arctic. This comes after the administration approved plans for Shell to drill in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea this summer. “Today’s attempt to block energy production in Alaska ignores the facts. For more than 30 years, Alaska has demonstrated its safe [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:19-09:00May 25th, 2015|Commentary, Federal Obstruction, Personal|0 Comments
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5-22-15 EPA Broke The Law When It Preemptively Attacked the Pebble Project.

Many friends of "Alaska's Diplomat", Chuck Becker, have commented on the important life he led, including his energy industry understanding.  (Note: we will remove or edit any comments at the request of commenters.  -dh) Canada's Fraser Institute analyzes how US loss of freedom affects economic recovery...and wonders how Alberta's new government will affect energy industry vitality.  EPA's Pebble Blame Game Wall Street Journal (Write "Pebble" and/or "Federal Overreach" and/or "Rule of Law" in our NGP Google search engine, upper right.  You will find our many references, like this one, to the Pebble [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:19-09:00May 22nd, 2015|Commentary, Federal Obstruction, You Read It Here First|0 Comments
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5-21-15 In Memoriam: Chuck Becker; Our Recent Commentary Reverberates

Today's News and Commentary In Memoriam Point of personal privilege: Our great friend, Chuck Becker, passed away this morning (Photos).  Today, family and countless friends are mourning his passing.  We will attempt to provide more official information as the family makes it available. Chuck and I met in the mid-1970s in Washington D.C.  Another dear friend, the late Anchorage Mayor George Sullivan was his client and I was representing the first North Slope gas project, the Arctic Gas Consortium, with Washington and Anchorage offices. After Chuck had moved to Anchorage and completed his [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:20-09:00May 21st, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal, Personal, Reader Comment|0 Comments
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More Alaska Oil Industry Angst Approaches

Attend the Annual Alaska Oil & Gas Association Luncheon!  Show support for a sustainable future! Our Instinct: Conservatives Must Seize Opportunity To Save Alaska's Economy  by Dave Harbour ​Please read news items below We admire Senator Lisa Murkowski's vigilance on Arctic exploration issues -- and the initiative of her committee's Communication Director, Robert Dillon.  See TODAY'S COMMUNICATION AND VIDEO HERE. Many moons will come before Shell Oil and other producers, under the most agreeable circumstances, can find and commercially produce oil and natural gas from Alaska's Arctic reservoirs in the [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:20-09:00May 19th, 2015|Alaska Taxes, Commentary, Federal Obstruction|0 Comments
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5-16-15 Useful Idiots Drive Miles to Paddle Kayaks to Protest Oil

Commentary: Earlier this week we gave credit to the useful idiots of the country by respecting their devotion as true believers in however climate change is defined today.  We also pointed out that one of the world's most respected climate change leaders admitted that her work was not so much about the environment as about destroying capitalism.  The story below describes the thought process, or lack thereof, of a graduate student from Olympia who drove to Seattle to protest the world's reliance on oil.  And he brought others with him. [...]

By |2016-03-13T03:53:34-09:00May 16th, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal|0 Comments
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5-14-15 UN Climate Chief Against Oil, Against Capitalism

Scroll Down For: "Useful Idiots" Commentary Published this morning: our MASTER RESOURCE Op-ed: "Seattle Hearing on Shell's Arctic Rig Docking: A Clash of Visions" UN Climate Change Chief, Christiana Figueres: Against Capitalism and Against Shell's Arctic Exploration  See earlier reports this week on Seattle's port hearing regarding the Staging of Shell's summer exploration in the Arctic   KILLING CAPITALISM: UN Climate Change Chief Investors Business Daily.  At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not [...]

By |2019-12-13T04:27:23-09:00May 13th, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary, Enviro-Industrial-Governmental Cabal, Federal Obstruction, Global Warming, You Read It Here First|0 Comments
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5-13-15 Alaskans Support Shell At Seattle Hearing

Senator Lisa Murkowski pushes to end oil export ban Yesterday's Port of Seattle Testimony: News, our commentary below... ..and more: Denny Westneat's Seattle Times Commentary, West Seattle Blog, AP Story by Gene Johnson, and Video Commentary.  We watched a "clash of energy philosophies" at yesterday's hearing online. We drew three main conclusions: 1.  Alaska witnesses.  Many testified.  All but one (i.e. a Mat-su area environmentalist who criticized Alaska's position on natural resource development) represented themselves professionally, presenting actual facts and history relating to the century-old relationship between Seattle and Alaska.   They also carefully briefed the [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:21-09:00May 13th, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary|0 Comments
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5-12-15 – Alaska Governor Walker and Port of Seattle Commission Act On Arctic Policies

In part, the Seattle City Council's Resolution 31576 states, "WHEREAS, broad community support for the policies and investments needed to sustain and improve the Port as a working waterfront with a significant number of family-supporting jobs  is vital to the future of the Port and Seattle’s employment base, and that support would be  undermined by use of the Port to stage Arctic drilling operations.   We suppose that the next step will be for the Mayor to demand that the Port Commission order the Airport to not permit cargo flights that [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:21-09:00May 11th, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary|0 Comments
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5-11-15 THIS ALERT AFFECTS MORE THAN ALASKA AND SEATTLE!

ALERT-ALERT-ALERT-ALERT-ALERT-ALERT-ALERT The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today approved Shell's revised multi-year Exploration Plan (EP) for the Chukchi Sea--with significant conditions.  Find complete information here. Our Weekend Shell Links Our Friday Shell Report: "Danger Stranger" Comment:  If Seattle's mayor succeeds in influencing local, independent decision making of the Port of Seattle, we have commented that unanticipated reactions could occur.   Tomorrow, the Port of Seattle commissioners will hear testimony on their provision of dock space for support of Shell Oil's summer exploration program in Alaska's Arctic.  (Here is the comment we [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:21-09:00May 11th, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary|0 Comments
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5-8-15 “Danger Stranger”

Will the Seattle Port Authority’s Independence Survive Mayor Murray’s Political Influence? By Dave Harbour On Tuesday and Wednesday we commented on an unbelievable act of the mayor of Seattle, Ed Murray, causing us to think, "Danger Stranger".   In other news today: WSJ: Could climate change politics strand energy reserves?  (Today's news points in that direction.  -dh) Seattle Times Editorial: Murray insists that he’s a strong supporter of the port and maritime industry. But if the city’s move blocks Shell and scuttles the port’s lease with Shell’s partner Foss Maritime, it could permanently tarnish the [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:21-09:00May 8th, 2015|Arctic Policy, Commentary, Federal Obstruction, You Read It Here First|0 Comments
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