Bob Sturtz, Fueling California, United Airlines, Consumer Energy Alliance, Photo by Dave HarbourYesterday, we participated in an outstanding presentation delivered to members of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners by "Fueling California" Chairman, Bob Sturtz (NGP Photo).  The presentation sought to demonstrate how California’s experience could help energy consumers everywhere.   Since our readers know that state and federal energy policies are overlapping, we present this link that provides much useful information.  In general, California’s experience is that political manipulation of energy programs, subsidies, regulations and a greenhouse gas emissions voter initiative has dramatically increased energy costs for consumers.  -dh

logo, pebble partnership

EPA Deadline For Alaskans Today; Please Comment.  We Also Continue To Hope For Massive Republican and Democrat Elected Leader Participation.  This Is Not A ‘Pebble’ Issue.  This Is A Federal Overreach Issue Affecting All Resource Development.  It’s About The EPA Defying Due Process And The Rule Of Law.  Send Us Your Comments and We Will Post Them!   -dh (Here is my comment.)

Calgary Herald by Lee Yee, Reuters.  China’s top offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd has agreed to buy Calgary-based Nexen Inc for about $15.1 billion in one of the most ambitious acquisitions by a Chinese company to date that may test Ottawa’s tolerance of foreign takeovers.

ADN by Richard Mauer.  With the governor and conservative Republicans targeting members of the Malcolm Roberts, Backbone, Dave Harbour Photobipartisan coalition that governs the Alaska Senate, the public interest group Backbone is stirring to life again toDavid Gottstein, Backbone, Alaska taxes, alaska gas pipeline, photo by dave harbour defend those senators in the conflict over oil taxes. … "We don’t have members, we don’t have bylaws, we’re not a 501(c)(3), we’re not a PAC," said (Malcolm) Roberts (NGP Photo-L). … Backbone members met Wednesday in the Anchorage law office of Bill Walker (NGP Photo-Below), a leading advocate of a large diameter, "all-Alaska" gas line, who lost to Parnell in the 2010 Republican primary. After they approved an announcement of the first public event in their campaign — a news conference next week featuring past and current state leaders — they discussed their plans with a Daily News reporter.  …  But as other members sat around Bill Walker, Valdez, Alaska, Backbone, Oil taxes, gas pipeline, Photo by Dave HarbourWalker’s conference table, David Gottstein (NGP Photo-R), an investment advisor and a founder of Backbone, said the 2012 election would be "a historic vote" because of the implications for the state’s future.  Most of the state treasury is built on oil revenues. Giving billions back to industry on a "highly speculative" bet that it would lead to more drilling would be a big mistake, Gottstein said.   (Commentary:  We’ve already commented (here) on the selfish, socialist, anti-investor mentality advocated by the "It’s Our Oil" activists and the destructive economic policy burden such advocates would place on the backs of our children.  In coming days, we will provide more analysis for readers.  Until then, we wonder how many of the ‘Backbone’ activists–so anxious to demonize Alaska’s largest investors–have stood up and been counted defying the ACTUAL, demonic assaults by the Obama Administration on Alaska’s economy.  We further wonder how many candidates for public office have commented on the federal assaults.  Are those who defend Alaska against federal overreach mostly of one party?  Are most critics of federal overreach of one House or Senate coalition?  We believe the answers will help citizens illuminate election decisions.   We believe defense of Alaska’s sovereignty against federal overreach would be an important factor in calculating grades of legislators as future ‘Legislative Report Cards’ are designed.  

P.S.  We also challenge the ADN writer’s characterization of Backbone activists as a ‘public interest group’, unless he characterizes his report as an ‘opinion’ piece.  If such work is cast as objective journalism when it should be labled as opinion a great disservice is done to readers and the professionalsm of the ‘newspaper’ can be appropriately questioned.  -dh

EPA DEADLINE FOR ALASKANS TODAY (We Thank the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce for This Leadership.  See our earlier ‘federal overreach’ links here.  -dh)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the peer review panel for the Draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment will meet August 7-9, 2012 in Anchorage.  The EPA has set Monday, July 23 as the deadline to register to attend or to speak at the August meeting. This date also coincides with the general watershed assessment comment deadline.

The peer review meeting agenda calls for public testimony on August 7, followed by public observation of meeting proceedings on August 8. The peer review panel will meet in private August 9.

Comment submitted today by Dave Harbour:
 
You should suspend the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment activity at this time.  If you do not suspend activity at this time, you should initiate an equally robust economic impact study to determine the result of your actions.  
 
The EPA should suspend and only reengage in this issue when all relevant permits have been filed by an applicant with appropriate state and federal agencies.  Your current activity, in my opinion as former Chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, is advocacy in nature, an assault on regulatory due process and seems designed to taint any future regulatory record with controversy and bias.  I further believe that your activity, ranging outside the proper permitting process, violates the intent of Congress and is, accordingly, a misuse of your agency’s current appropriations–or, at least, evidence that your current appropriations are excessive.
 
Furthermore, the precedent set by this improper and possibly illegal initiative signals resource development opponents nationwide that they may stall real or imagined projects at a very low cost to them and a very high cost to taxpayers.  Massive anti-development, taxpayer-funded delays could be achieved by merely petitioning the EPA to review projects before proponents have even filed applications defining the work to be done and before professional analyses required by NPEA have been completed and folded into a record for decision.
 
In conclusion, I ask that this comment be placed in your record and responded to.  I further petition you to accompany this Watershed Assessment, should it continue, with just as extensive an ‘economic impact review’, so that the effects of your actions can be more fully known and assessed.  
 
This comment is not a request to appear at any future hearing.
 
Dave Harbour 
Anchorage, Ak.  99507

 

To participate in the peer review session, either as an observer or speaker, you must register by July 23.
 
Register online here. 
 
Read sister organization RDC’s Action Alert here.
 
The EPA released for public comment a premature study of the Bristol Bay watershed and its natural resources. EPA’s report responds to growing interest in large-scale mining in the watershed from a number of stakeholders and local communities with a range of views. This draft attempts to assess the effects of a potential project, without the project plans.
 
The Alaska Chamber strongly opposes this dangerous and unprecedented action by the EPA. The letter of opposition submitted by the Alaska Chamber to the EPA can be found here. 
 
Members are encouraged to submit written comments to the EPA by July 23 discouraging the EPA from preemptively vetoing projects in the Bristol Bay area. 
 
Submit comments online: Reference Docket #EPA-HQ-ORD-2012-0276: http://www.regulations.gov 
 
Send an email to: ORD.Docket@epa.gov, include Docket #EPA-HQ-ORD-2012-0276 in the subject line.

From: Consumer Energy Alliance:

 

The U.S. oil rig count slipped from a record on slower drilling activity as crude prices declined almost $20 a barrel from the year’s high. The oil count dropped by 13 this week to 1,414, Baker Hughes Inc. said. Oil rigs also fell by two July 6 and then gained eight last week to reach the highest level since Baker Hughes separated oil and gas totals in 1987. The gas rig count decreased by four to 518, after falling last week to the lowest level since August 1999, the Houston oil-services company reported on its website. The oil-rig count in the U.S. has been rising since 2009 when energy companies began curbing investments in dry gas and drilling for more profitable oil and gas liquids, which sell closer to oil prices than gas. Oil-rig growth slowed in the second quarter as crude prices tumbled by the most since the last three months of 2008, forcing producers to rethink their drilling programs.
 
Seven years and $4.5 billion after it bought leases to explore for oil off Alaska’s Arctic coast, Royal Dutch Shell is finally close to drilling a well in the pristine Chukchi Sea, confident that it will discover a vast oil reservoir buried thousands of feet below the seafloor. “This is kind of like Christmas Eve,” said Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R). “We can’t wait to see if Santa comes.” But Santa’s path has not been smooth.
 
About this time, drivers were forecasted to be paying $5 and some boastful analysts predicted $6 per gallon of gasoline. Drivers are paying roughly $3.45 per gallon today, and many analysts aren’t expecting the U.S. to sniff $4 until 2013. So what happened to those high-dollar predictions?