2-07-12 - Senator Lisa Murkowski Addresses Nation's Commissioners

Personal Commentary:  This morning Senator Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo, 2-6-12) is scheduled to address the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) on energy issues at Washington D.C.'s Renaissance Hotel.   
 
The program begins this morning with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin, providing, 'an overview of the ongoing quest for energy resources in an increasingly competitive world,' according to the NARUC program.  Yergin's presentation will be followed by Murkowski's panel, also including Oregon's Senator Ron Wyden, West Virginia's Senator Joe Manchin and Congressman James Clyburn, also father of FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (former South Carolina Commissioner)
 
(Additional personal note: While serving on the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, your author served as Co-Vice Chairman of NARUC's Gas Committee, NARUC's official representative to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) and Chairman of the Gas Committee, Western Conference of Public Service Commissions.  In those capacities, your author participated in passage of NARUC/IOGCC resolutions benefiting the country and Alaska, dealing with the Alaska natural gas pipeline project, long term contracting to benefit energy infrastructure and other domestic energy support issues.)  -dh

Alaska Dispatch by Scott Woodham.  Alaska has issued a key air quality control permit needed to restart the long-dormant Healy Clean Coal Plant, a 50-megawatt power plant about 90 miles south of Fairbanks that has sat idle more than a decade and been called one of Alaska's most conspicuous boondoggles.

Feds' new oil shale plan will keep activity off Western land - Deseret News, Catherine Tsai - But the move drew a sharply critical response from Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert . "I see absolutely no benefit. This nonsensical, bass-ackwards, peek-a-boo policy is nothing more than political posturing by over-reaching federal bureaucrats," the governor said in a news release. "With no science and no data, and with a wave of their federal bureaucratic magic wand, they just take the bulk of the acreage off the market, stifle innovation, and demonstrate, yet again, that this administration is patently hostile toward even the possible development of much needed energy resources."
 
Keystone pipeline is ready to come through Oklahoma - NewsOK, Megan Rolland - “But I got to thinking. You put all these people to work, and these people have got to go to work,” Elwood said. Now she hopes Congress will find a way to override the president's decision not to let the pipeline cross the United States.
 
Eastern Montana mulls Keystone XL - Billings Gazette, Lorna Thackeray - Support for the $7 billion project is strong across Eastern Montana, where the pipeline will traverse 282 miles through six counties. But it's not unanimous, especially among some landowners who say they have not been provided with adequate safety plans or environmental assurances.
 
Oil taxes highlight busy week for Alaska lawmakers - Anchorage Daily News, Becky Bohrer - The oil tax debate overshadows all others this session because of the significance of oil to Alaska's economy. Oil provides about 90 percent of the state's unrestricted revenue but declining production has policy makers worried and looking for ways to reverse the trend.