Anchorage Mayor's Energy Task Force Agenda for TODAY includes GTL: Scroll to Bottom.

Houston Chronicle reports, “The Obama administration may have hoped that a newly revised ban on deep-water drilling would end the legal battle over the issue, but it became clear Tuesday that the fight over offshore exploration is far from over. Ensco Offshore Co., a U.K.-based rig owner, filed a lawsuit accusing the administration of illegally imposing new requirements on the industry and dragging its feet in permitting shallow-water drilling. 

NY Times reports (See our Monday-Tuesday stories/editorial), “Three weeks ago, William K. Reilly, the newly named co-chairman of the presidential commission appointed to investigate the BP oil spill, said he thought the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was necessary – and maybe even too short. ...  But on Tuesday, after two days of touring the gulf region and a day and a half of hearing testimony from a variety of aggrieved local officials, business interests and oil executives, Mr. Reilly changed his tune. The moratorium is spreading economic pain across the region, he said, and for many is worse than the effects of the spill itself. “It’s not clear to me why it should take so long,” Mr. Reilly told reporters during a break in testimony on Tuesday.

ADN by Sean Cockerham.  Democrat Ethan Berkowitz (NGP Photo-r) is running for governor with a proposal for a major overhaul of how the state collects money from oil companies. His idea would jettison the controversial oil tax that his fellow Democrats championed in the Legislature less than three years ago.

Alaska Dispatch by Ethan Berkowitz.  It's started... that giant sucking sound from Alaska's economy.MSNBC.com and the London Times are reporting that BP is in discussions to sell its Alaska assets to cover the costs of its spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Just over a month ago I predicted this was a possibility.  At the time I also asked publicly: 'What is Alaska's plan for a post-BP reality?'

KTUU.  Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ralph Samuels (NGP Photo-l) is calling a new state website on natural gas projects a "blatant campaign tool" for Gov. Sean Parnell (NGP Photo-r).  Parnell announced the site this week. Parnell's spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, said Monday that the goal is to provide information to constituents in a user-friendly way. She likened it to the administration rollout of the state capital budget.

AP/NEWSVINE by Becky Bohrer.  A BP Alaska spokesman says the company remains interested in getting natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to market and is evaluating two proposed pipeline projects.

The Republic.  Records requested by a Republican challenger to Gov. Sean Parnell shed no new light on Parnell's decision to veto a change to Alaska's system of taxing oil and gas production.  The Associated Press obtained a copy of records requested by Bill Walker (NGP Photo-L).

ADVFN III.  By Edward Welsch and Cassandra Sweet Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES TransCanada Corp. (TRP), which is working on developing an Alaska natural-gas pipeline, and a group working on a rival pipe denied they were in talks to merge the multibillion-dollar projects. While Calgary-based TransCanada is working to attractinvestment in its roughly $36 billion pipeline to bring Alaskan gas to Canada and the lower 48 states, the company hasn't recently discussed merging its efforts with the Denali project proposed by BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) and ConocoPhillips (COP), a TransCanada executive said Monday. "I have nothing new to report," Tony Palmer (NGP Photo-r), TransCanada vice president of Alaska development, said in an interview. He said thecompany "is open to equity participation with any large shipper," but he added that it hasn't had any special negotiations with BP or ConocoPhillips. Palmer's comments came after the Houston Chronicle reported Monday that TransCanada and the Denali partnership were in preliminary talks to merge their gas-pipeline efforts. Denali spokesman Dave McDowell (NGP Photo-l) also denied that the companies have engaged in talks about merging their projects, although he reitereated that the partnership welcomes investors in its project. Steve Rinehart, a spokesman for BP's Alaskaoperations, declined to comment.