TransCanada Taps AGIA Subsidy - News Miner Supports Fair Treatment for Shell - Rattie Attacks "Most Asinine Piece of Legislation in U.S. History"

Alaska Dispatch by Rena Delbridge.  The state is getting ready to write its first check to TransCanada Corp., its partner in pursuit of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to North American markets.  The state's licensee under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, TransCanada filed an invoice earlier this month for expenditures it made through the end of the first quarter 2009. TransCanada vice president Tony Palmer (NGP Photo) confirmed his company turned in expenses from December 2008, just after receiving the state's license under AGIA, through the first quarter of 2009, which ended March 31. The state will have to decide how much of the $2.6 million total is eligible for reimbursement.  State Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin said he's requested additional information and formatting changes from TransCanada, and is expecting resubmission soon. The state will pick out qualified expenditures and send 50 percent back....    *     National Journal (10/22, subs. req’d) reports, “Starting today and through the end of next week, the American Energy Alliance is running radio ads in Graham's state "to make sure Mr. Graham's stance is well known throughout South Carolina," the group's spokesman Patrick Creighton said. The group's 60-second radio ad mentions the state's near-12 percent unemployment rate. "South Carolinians are struggling, " according to the ad. "This recession has pushed local businesses to the brink." The ad continues, "So why would Sen. Lindsey Graham support new energy taxes, called cap and trade, that will further harm our economy and kill millions of American jobs?"   (NGP opposes climate change legislation that increases energy costs for consumers and decreases marketability of Alaska's energy resources.)   *    The Shreveport (La.) Times (10/22) reports, Keith O. Rattie "{...was the keynote luncheon speaker at the Gulf Coast Prospect and Shale Expo Wednesday at the Shreveport Convention Center.

The expo continues today; this was the first year the expo was held in Shreveport. The natural gas industry is threatened by bullets in the form of increased taxation, federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, the myth of green jobs, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which Rattie called "the most asinine piece of legislation in U.S. history."       *     Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner (10/22) editorializes, “Shell bought the leases in 2005 and 2007. That gives it a right to explore for oil in those areas. The federal government cannot simply say “oops” and refuse to allow the drilling to proceed. That seems to be the only policy that would satisfy critics of the Minerals Management Service’s decision this week, though. Their arguments against the granting of a drilling permit raise issues that no permit conditions could address. They assert that oil spills are guaranteed, that they cannot be cleaned up and that such oil spills would devastate polar bear and other wildlife populations. These are not arguments seeking modifications to the exploration drilling plan. These are arguments designed to prevent the drilling entirely. But that’s not an option, and the arguments are too weak to justify that result.