…more ‘Notes from the road’ and photos coming.  Today we are attending meetings in Bismarck with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.

Yesterday, we urged all readers, including elected officials, to become actively involved in tomorrow Cathy Giessel, Dave Harbour, Alaska State Senate, BOEMRE, Lease Sale 193night’s BOEMRE hearing that could well determine Alaska’s future.  It is of such importance, I sense that any other legislative activity is virtually moot or meaningless next to the priority of attending a hearing whose record could result in a sustained, Alaskan economy.  Today, we are delighted to provide readers with the copy of a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter (Below) a legislator forwarded to us along with a link, here, to a hard-hitting  and to-the-point comment letter to BOEMRE from State Senator Cathy Giessel (NGP Photo).  It is a careful piece of work, obviously prepared long before our editorial yesterday.  It is a message that cuts to the most basic of issues and begs the most compelling of questions: is the federal govenment in violation of the statehood compact?   Our good readers will judge.   We invite all elected officials and others to provide us with copies of their
BOEMRE comment letters or testimony which we will display here and on other websites for posterity!   -dh

Message Senator Cathy Giessel sent to her colleagues in the state legislature along with an attached letter of support:

 

You and I know the delays experienced by hydrocarbon resource lease holders on federal lands in Alaska. 
  
Royal Dutch Shell is the poster child for these delays for permits in the Beaufort (137 leases) and Chukchi (275 leases) Seas.  These permits have been held up for 5 years.  But Shell has persevered in working with the federal government, spending over $60 million on permitting issues alone. USGS projects that development of OCS would generate 700,000-900,000 barrels per day. 
  
ISER estimates that OCS development would generate 54,000 jobs and $145 billion in payroll.  It is estimated that government revenue would be in the area of $195 billion. 
  
Shell has been working closely with the Alaska communities closest to their Beaufort and Chukchi Seas lease holdings.  The company is completing extensive environmental impact assessments and assuring minimal impact. 
  
I ask you to join me in urging BOEMRE to affirm Lease Sale 193, and expedite permit approvals for OCS development.  Your support, as an elected official, will rise to the top of the other public comments and will have significant impact.  You can help to “move the dial” on Alaska’s economic and productive employment   future. 
  
I have attached the letter that I am sending .  Please feel free to use the content and personalize it.  Further details about this BOEMRE public comment period can be found at http://www.akrdc.org/alerts/2011/ocsalert.html. 
  
Your letter can be mailed.  Or , it can be emailed via the Federal Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulation.gov.    
  
Deadline for your letter is July 11 
  
  
Cathy 
Senator Cathy Giessel 
  
District contact: 
716 West 4th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501 
Office 907 269 0181 
Fax 907 269 0184 
  
FB:  Senator Cathy Giessel 
Twitter:  GiesselAKSenate 
http://www.aksenateminority.com/