April 2012 Archives

The Examiner, by Lawrence Wood.  Governor Gives In On Special Session.

Alaska Business Monthly.  Texas and Alaska Can Lead In National Recovery

Times Record News by Lee Anderson. native Texan Dave Harbour, encouraged members of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers on Wednesday to continue challenging federal mandates imposed on the oil and gas industry and insisted that Texas and Alaska can lead the nation from "the brink of economic crisis back to prosperity."The former chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, said "We can do it by controlling spending and developing domestic natural resources in time to save our children's generation from what could be a time of great adversity," Harbour told the crowd of several hundred at the annual TAEP breakfast in the Kay Yeager Coliseum.  (Note:  Later, we will upload the presentation.  We also had a pleasant, private exchange with American energy patriot, John Hofmeister, and will provide a little insight for readers along with photos.  In our presentation we noted that North Dakota is moving fast to assume Alaska's place as the second largest domestic oil producer--a spot that Alaska could easily defend with an improved investment climate and supportive federal policies.   -dh)

Times Record News by Lee Anderson.  The final day of the expo will get off to an early start today with the traditional breakfast featuring a presentation from Dave Harbour, commissioner emeritus of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners, and publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines.  ...   The noon luncheon will be highlighted by a presentation from John Hofmeister (Photo-L), founder and chief executive of Citizens for Affordable Energy and the former president of Shell Oil Co.

 Governor's Office.  The Senate should now move expeditiously on gasline legislation in HB 9.

Governor Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) today signed a supplemental proclamation that removes oil and gas production taxes from consideration by the Alaska Legislature during this special session. The Senate must still take up gasline legislation, House Bill 9, for the Legislature to complete its work in the special session.   ...   The Senate should now move expeditiously on gasline legislation in HB 9. The bill carries long-term statewide benefits, both for rural and urban areas, through new energy, more jobs, and greater state revenue. HB 9 remains bottled up in the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee. Changes to HB 9 suggested to senators by the sponsor, Speaker Mike Chenault, will ensure the state can move forward to unlock natural gas for Alaskans’ benefit.

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 HOUSTON, TX –Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is pleased to welcome Great Plains- The Camelina Companyas its newest affiliate member.

Glouster Times by Richard Gaines.  The chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, backed by a national coalition that ranges from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, is urging a shutoff to all funding geared toward implementation of a National Ocean Policy created by an executive order signed by President Obama, rather than congressional action.

Today, we are pleased to provide you with a link to Tom Brennan's important commentary... embellished a bit with our own.  -dh

Commentary: Tom Brennan's (NGP Photo) commentary below, notes that the Alaska Legislature seems enamored with providing tax credits to companies that explore new, potential petroleum reservoirs on Alaska state lands (i.e. most 'explorers' are relatively new to Alaska and have expressed publicly or privately a concern that if they do discover anything, production in this tax climate will be difficult or impossible).  State law provides subsidies for explorers by over taxing the so-called legacy producers, the three large oil companies, whose risk and diligence caused Alaska to benefit so greatly from Alaska North Slope production.  The short-sightedness of the Legislature's oil wealth redistribution is exposed below, when Brennan points out the significant new production that the three major producers (i.e. and the state)  could monetize from existing reservoirs.  We concur that the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) throughput could be sustained for many decades were the tax and investment climate in Alaska to be fully competitive with other oil producing areas--and not among the worst taxing regimes in the free world.  Governor Sean Parnell (NGP Photo) has exercised his leadership and recommended tax reform to the Alaska State Senate, whose republican and democrat coalition leaders continue to vigorously oppose.  

Alaska also has serious challenges with the Federal Government's bending, breaking, abusing the rule of law whenever possible to delay and stop reasonable and traditional natural resource development in Alaska on federal lands.   Governor Sean Parnell and his Attorney General have consistently opposed federal overreach via public comment periods, defensive lawsuits and through use of the "bully pulpit".  Brennan's book, Snowflake Rebellion, anticipates a day in which Alaskans rebel against federal oppression.  

While a Snowflake Rebellion might save Alaska from its federal masters in Washington, it will take a different sort of rebellion to save Alaska from its own, elected leaders.  The first rebellion could be thought of as an "us vs. them" conflict, as in colonial days.  The second rebellion would more closely resemble a civil conflict, as in President Lincoln's day.   Both the state and the federal challenges require the honest analysis, courage and decisive action of citizens to overcome.  -dh

Anchorage Daily Planet by Tom Brennan (NGP Photo).  Any legislator who votes to provide ACES tax relief to companies making new North Slope discoveries - but deny it to the legacy field owners - owes the Alaska public an explanation.  This state and its people have a lot at stake in the dispute. The legacy fields are Alaska's heritage, the heart of any future economy. The fields still contain an estimated 4 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The current value of that oil at $120 a barrel is $480 billion. The state's royalty share alone - not counting its tax take - comes to about $85 billion, twice the size of the Alaska Permanent Fund. State taxes of various kinds would reap many billions more.   The state’s tax grab involves esoteric numbers like net profit so I can’t calculate that. But it is safe to say that the total, including royalties, would double or triple that $85 billion.  For reasons that have not been explained, many legislators refuse to pass legislation that would encourage full and prompt development of that resource. They simply say the lower taxes could reduce the state's immediate take by a billion or two a year.  (More....)