We’ll Have An Exclusive North Slope Gas Story For Readers Tomorrow!

Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner (FERC) Phil Moeller (NGP Photo) visited Alaska last week and told a Commonwealth North gathering Friday night that he thought of himself as "Alaska’s FERC Commissioner" because of his work in a Southeast Alaska cannery during his college years.  "Because of my time here," he said, "I probably have a good idea of how Alaskans react to issues."  In other extemporaneous remarks Friday evening, Moeller downplayed the domestic gas competition for Alaska North Slope (ANS) gas saying, "the country is becoming more dependent — day by day — on natural gas and that is good for Alaska."  He pointed out that, "In the last 12 months the natural gas power generation pie slice has grown from 17% to 18.5%.  We’re becoming more dependent on renewables and I support that," he said, "particularly wind–but we need natural gas to fill inl.  I hope," he concluded, "that part of the answer to our growing natural gas dependence is the Alaska gas pipeline."   (Here is Rena Delbridge’s (NGP Photo) excellent article in theStandard.)        *    ADN by Tim Bradner.  It is dawning on people, finally, that we have an energy problem in Southcentral Alaska. Natural gas heats our homes and buildings and fuels 90 percent of our electricity production, but the gas fields are running down. We need to get more from somewhere.     *     APRN Audio re: ENSTAR seeking more gas contracts.     *     Green Theme knows no borders.  On behalf of birds, Greens would kill Mackenze project.    *      The Hill Times by Ken Rubin.  The millions of dollars in expenses charged by Transport Canada employees against the not-as-yet-happening Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline is a story that I helped bring to the public’s attention. But it wasn’t easy. 

Commentary:  On Friday I joined a good crowd at Anchorage’s Loussac Library where representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency heard testimony from about 20 local citizens supporting the EPA’s approval of a Clean Air Act Permit for Shell Oil’s 2010 Chukchi See exploration program.  Here is our Friday story.  Below is the testimony I offered:

 

(…continued tomorrow morning….)