Ted Stevens

"My future is in God’s hands."

ADN.  Here are the preliminary plans for the services for former Alaska U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (NGP Photo), who died in a plane crash early this week. All evens are open to the public.

Seattle Times, by Kim Murphy-LA Times.  Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing calls for permanent wilderness protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which holds up to 15 billion barrels of oil; and oil companies are balking at spending the estimated $40 billion needed to coax new oil out of existing fields, partly in protest of Alaska’s oil-production taxes, raised significantly under the administration of former Gov. Sarah Palin (NGP Photo).  "We need more oil for that pipeline," Gov. Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) said. "But ANWR (the Arctic refuge) is locked up to the east, offshore is now locked up in federal waters, and to the west, in the NPR-A, they declined a permit to ConocoPhillips to move forward.  "We are now blocked on three sides, with the remaining state land in the middle."  …  "These are the richest corporations in the world, and they’re being crybabies," said Jim Ayers, a Juneau-based conservation consultant and former chief of staff to former Gov. Tony Knowles (NGP Photo). "Yes, putting oil in a pipeline in the Arctic is very, very hard. I admire their science and engineering, and by God they ought to do more of it and quit crying about it."  (Comment:  the companies are not crying, Jim; they are sending all sorts of signals that Federal and State actions are causing a shift in investment strategy that will leave Alaska without an economic base.  But that catastrophic outcome is precisely what you must desire since all of the environmental extremism that you represent has erected such massive roadblock that free-enterprise can move forward.  Resource development which the Statehood Compact and our founders envisioned as the very basis for Alaska’s prosperity is not held hostage to your sophist strategies.  Soon, your work will pay off and the industry that supports 90 percent of the state operating budget, a huge share of the state construction budget and one-third of the entire economy will have been brought to its knees.  Oil, gas, mining and timber companies have done their best to communicate the dangers.  But your strategy has been more successful and you have prostelized powerful allies from organized labor and the Alaska Native community.  Within a decade, Alaska will return to pre-pipeline poverty, cold and darkness.  You will have caused a great state to become a ward of the Federal government, surviving on subsidy.  And, since you and your socialist friends to not believe in a free enterprise solution, you will advocate for government owned or sponsored oil, gas, mining and timber companies–effectively converting Alaska within 15 years into the Socialist Nirvana you have worked so long and hard to create.  Congratulations, Jim Ayres.  What a great Alaskan you have become!   -dh)

  (Photos coming….)