Liberal.  With even Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl admitting there was nothing new in the Conservative’s latest Northern Strategy re-announcement, Larry Bagnell (NGP Photo, with author), Liberal Critic for Arctic Issues and Northern Development cautioned Canadians not to be fooled by more Arctic promises still not kept. “Stephen Harper made a grand list of promises to northerners to get their votes but he’s never apologized for breaking them,” said Mr. Bagnell. “Northerners are tired of being used for photo-ops by a do-little government when they see few signs of progress around them.”     Pipe China.  The conversation in this town of 3,500 in the Western Arctic should be about aboriginal self-sufficiency, environmentally responsible Northern development and a new clean-energy storehouse with immense potential. After all, the proposed $16.2-billion Mackenzie Valley natural-gas pipeline project was supposed to be under construction by now. Instead, the talk is about the regulatory bungling, federal government inaction and fading industry interest in what would be one of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, a new threat has emerged: Big gas discoveries in shale rocks that are cheap and closer to customers, making the pipeline an even tougher proposition by the time all hurdles are cleared, perhaps two years from now, perhaps longer. "The Mackenzie pipeline appears to be frozen, not just in the ground, but in red tape," Floyd Roland, N. W. T. Premier, said at last month’s Inuvik Petroleum Show, reflecting the dark mood, despite the 24-hour daylight embracing this community on the shore of the majestic Mackenzie River.

    *    The Alaska Attorney General’s office reports this good news:

 

Federal Court Issues Another Favorable Ruling on OCS Development
 
Anchorage, Alaska– A federal appeals court has issued a favorable ruling for the State of Alaska that allows a continuation of data-gathering activities for oil and gas development in the Chukchi Sea.
 

The July 28 decision was issued in a case originally filed by environmental groups challenging the Department of Interior’s five-year plan for outer continental shelf (OCS) oil and gas development for the entire United States, including Alaska.
 
The ruling by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was made at the request of the State of Alaska, participating as a friend of the court, along with the U.S. Department of Interior and the American Petroleum Institute. The parties asked the judges to reconsider an April 17 ruling that, if allowed to stand, could have halted all oil and gas development, including data-gathering, in the Chukchi Sea, while the Mineral Management Service addressed concerns identified by the court. The court’s latest ruling was consistent with the relief sought by the State of Alaska.
 
Tuesday’s ruling by the federal appeals court follows closely on the heels of another favorable federal court ruling made on July 14 in a related matter: The U.S. District Court granted a motion by the state to intervene in a case in which a number of environmental groups are seeking to rescind dozens of leases issued by the federal government under an off-shore oil and gas lease sale conducted for federal waters in the Chukchi Sea.
 
“We will vigorously defend Alaska’s interests in ensuring that oil and gas developments continue both in the state and in the federal outer continental shelf,” Attorney General Dan Sullivan said this week. “Recent federal court rulings, while not definitive, are encouraging. The Department of Law will continue to advocate for and safeguard Alaska’s right to pursue environmentally responsible resource development.”