2-14-12 - Feds Descended On Anchorage Yesterday For Noon and Evening Meetings As The Legislature Tackles Tax Issues

CBC News: Most Albertans rate the oil and gas industry — and the provincial government — highly when it comes to creating jobs, according to a poll done for CBC News.  But almost a third of Albertans think both government and the oil and gas industry could do a better job communicating with the public.

Commentary by Dave Harbour.  At noon in Anchorage, yesterday, citizens were asked for testimony regarding a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) published by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).  

NMFS Chief Michael Payne and DEIS Project Manager Candice Nachman (NGP Photos) briefed the audience on the DEIS and how it addresses the "Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean". NMFS is the lead agency for this EIS. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the North Slope Borough (NSB) are cooperating agencies on the EIS (In answer to a question from the author, Nachman said the State of Alaska was not a "Cooperating Agency").

An official 45-day comment period on the document has been extended to Tuesday, February 28. Public meetings were held through February 9 on the North Slope, and yesterday in Anchorage.  Go to the Resource Development Council for Alaska (RDC) Website for information on how citizens can file comments to assist in building a good record.  During the noon hour, yesterday, witnesses favoring Arctic OCS development and opposing the 'federal overreaching jurisdiction of NMFS' represented by this DEIS outnumbered environmental activist witnesses by about 2 to 1 but one might expect Lower 48 environmental networks to generate thousands of 'seminar' comments urging a stop to Arctic energy exploration.

Snipets from several presentations included: Peter Macksey (NGP Photo-r) observing that, "We seem to put in place roadblocks to any development, mostly by creating arbitrary and unclear mitigation measures that are not clearly defined...."  Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska president Steve Pratt (NGP Photo-l) CEA-Alaska said he believes that Alaska’s contributions to a balanced energy policy cannot be overstated, but that, "the Draft Environmental Impact Statement at issue here may act against accomplishment of a balanced energy policy."  He complimented President Obama's State of the Union message that,  “Tonight, I’m directing my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil-and-gas resources.”  Pratt went on to observe that, "As we understand it, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement under consideration has the potential to close off the very resources it is in the national interest to open for exploration and development."    John Stugeon (NGP Photo-r) said adoption of the restrictions contained in the DEIS would "severely compromise" the economics of Arctic energy exploration.  

Shell Exploration and Production representative, Lucas Frances (NGP Photo) summarized the concern lessees have for the NMFS environmental analysis: "There are a variety of elements in the current Draft EIS," Frances said, "that, if carried forward through the Record of Decision, would significantly constrain—and possibly preclude—future offshore oil and gas exploration."  Frances asked that the NMFS withdraw the DEIS, initiate a new DEIS process and conduct a workshop with lessees to jointly prepare exploration alternatives. 

As an observer, I was struck by the early tenor of the meeting established when NMFS Chief Payne said that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), "is there to allow us to make a decision on the way we want to proceed."  This citizen might have been more comforted had the agency head said, "NEPA allows us to make a balanced decision that both protects critical environmental values while allowing critical energy exploration to proceed."  If stated accurately, Payne's statement leaves one with a clear conclusion that the agency will do whatever it wants to do...without regard to balancing important values."

Also not lost on this listener was the constant reference in the meeting by staff and environmentalists to subsistence values: as if summer exploration activitiy and the lifesaving jobs it produces somehow prevent subsistence hunters from harvesting marine mammals.  

Alaska's North Slope industry experience has shown that: 1) industry prevents poaching and other hunting abuses, 2) protected animals increase in numbers for the benefit of subsistence hunters, 3) the presence of industry provides safety and lifesaving resources for subsistence hunters, and 4) many subsistence hunters make a living by working for the industry that provides these many other benefits.  

If agencies like NMFS are to better reach 'balanced' decisions, they should be fully considering the practical local benefits of exploration as noted above, as well as the overal benefit to American employment, affordable domestic fuel supplies, national security and financial deficits now threatening the economic survival of our republic.

Last night in Anchorage, citizens gave opinions to FERC regarding an "Environmental review public meeting for the Alaska Pipeline Project".  The Federal Coordinator's office produced a video of the event here, which includes an updated briefing on the project by David Swearington of FERC.  An expensive (from a taxpayer perspective) bevy of other officials accompanied the road show, including some representatives from cooperating agencies: the Department of Transportation, Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, Office of the Federal Coordinator, Fish & Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Alaska Pipeline Coordinator's Office, Geological Survey, Eilson Air Force Base.  Supporting the FERC were consultants from Argonne National Labs and a Court reporter. 

ADN by Lisa Demer.  Gov. Sean Parnell's goal of once again seeing a million barrels of oil course through the trans-Alaska pipeline each day would require an investment of $7.5 billion a year, the Legislature's oil and gas consultant Pedro van Meurs (NGP Photo) told two state Senate committees Monday.  Here is Dr. van Meurs' slide presentation with all the facts and figures.

Fairbanks News Miner/AP by Becky Bohrer.  Gov. Sean Parnell's goal of nearly doubling the flow of oil through the trans-Alaska pipeline could be achieved over the next 10 to 15 years - but not without major fiscal and policy changes, a consultant said Monday.  Pedro van Meurs, an oil and gas consultant, told a joint hearing of the Senate Resources and Finance committees that Parnell's tax-cut bill "does not even come close" to going far enough to hit the Republican governor's goal of 1 million barrels a day. He said "more elaborate" legislation is needed if Alaska wants significant increases in production.