Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Addresses The Nation TODAY Alaska Governor Bill Walker Finishes A Week Facing Falling Oil Prices   Governor Walker Edited from 'Alaskanomics' by Katie Bender. Governor Bill Walker (NGP Photo) presented his State of the Budget speech to the Legislature on Thursday night. This was one night after the State of the State speech that he presented to open the Legislative session.  He said, “...it will not be easy, but we will manage Alaska out of the fiscal challenges facing our state.”  The budget challenge is well known to the Legislature, the Administration [...]

Our concerns about Wednesday's Executive Order On the Arctic are here, for the record, and we hope Members of Congress and Alaska's Administration are paying attention as the temperature in the pot containing the complacent frog, increases. ALASKA SUPPORT INDUSTRY ALLIANCE: Here are more photos from the recent "Meet Alaska" Conference in Anchorage.   We fully support Senator Murkowski's Alaska viewpoint on supporting the Keystone XL Pipeline as reflected in this week's Op-Ed piece in the Alaska Dispatch News.  -dh​ Alaska Has A Powerful Fighter In Washington: Chair Murkowski! -dh Houston Chronicle, by  Jennifer [...]

Two ADN stories by Dermot Cole.  In the midst of a steep decline in world oil prices, CH2M Hill has scrapped plans to look for a buyer of its oil-field services operation in Alaska and on Sakhalin Island in Russia, the company said Wednesday.  More.... ... CBC.  All evidence still points to the Keystone XL pipeline being approved, despite the political storm raging over it in Washington, D.C., Canada's natural resources minister says. Greg Rickford told a press conference in the American capital today that he thinks, based on U.S. State Department [...]

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, (NGP Photo), today conducted a business meeting to markup an original bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline -- reported favorably by the  committee on June 18, 2014.  Watch the action here....  See related, CEA "Call To Action" here....     -dh Below is a note that our friend, reader and Independent Energy Analyst, James Halloran provided.  This viewpoint, from one of our favorite oil and gas experts, should be read and fully absorbed by every elected official in Alaska -- whose state operating budget is over 90% [...]

HAPPY NEW YEAR, BUT NOT TOO HAPPY!   (PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE: WHY SOME OF OUR GENTLE READERS HAVE CHOSEN ABSTINENCE OVER 'FUN')   New Year's Eve Energy Links Courtesy of Consumer Energy Alliance Calgary Herald by Lorraine Hjalte.  Beyond pipeline politics and plunging oil prices that dominated Calgary business news in 2014, our annual quiz tests your recollection of other notable events from the past year.  Take our quiz here! 2014 Energy Review! Globe & Mail.  Energy is serious business, and in 2014 ... serious stories.  ... shortest booms on record, [...]

Petroleum News by Alan Bailey.  Nabors rig 16-E is about to move on site to drill three new wells in the North Slope Mustang field this winter, Jack Laasch (NGP Photo), Brooks Range Petroleum’s operations strategy manager, told the Alaska Support Industry Alliance Dec. 11. Having already completed the field’s gravel access road and pad, Brook.... ADN/The Arctic Sounder by Carey Restino.   Efforts to move forward with Arctic priorities got a boost with the passage of the federal spending bill last week, which included items Alaska’s lawmakers are calling [...]

Point of personal privilege: Marilyn Elizabeth North Wilkins (NGP Photo) of Anchorage, Alaska, passed away on Dec. 11, 2014. Moving to Alaska in 1951, she met Dr. Robert Bocock Wilkins M.D. on a blind date in Anchorage in 1952. They were married on March 6, 1955. Their two children, Roberta Marie Wilkins Fraser and Lee Murray Wilkins, both reside in Anchorage.   More here....     Marilyn Elizabeth North Wilkins, 86, of Anchorage, Alaska, passed away on Dec. 11, 2014. Marilyn was born on Jan. 7, 1928, in Twin Falls, [...]

Federal Endangered Species Decisions Faulty House Natural Resources Committee majority staff released a report today that questions the independence and accountability of  the peer review process in recent Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing decisions.  The report entitled, “Under the Microscope: An examination of the questionable science and lack of independent peer review in Endangered Species Act listing decisions” studies the federal government’s peer review process for 13 different ESA listing decisions made by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) since July 2013.  The report found numerous examples of potential bias and conflicts [...]