Food for thought: A provocative new video from the folks over at Americans for Limited Government promoting a new project focused on economic liberty and free market policies. Watch:
by Andrew Halcro
JUNEAU–As the Alaska State Legislature begins a special session today on oil tax reform, things are a little chilly in the Capitol. Between the House, the Governor and the Senate, there are more ill feelings than in all of Bartlett Memorial.
The biggest sticking point of the two year battle over oil tax reform has been the debate over the legacy fields on the North Slope. While the Governor and the House want to include these fields in tax reform, the Senate has balked thus creating a show down.
by Dermot Cole | FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
FAIRBANKS — The Wall Street Journal put a overoptimistic spin on the Point Thomson announcement Friday by Gov. Sean Parnell and the letter from three oil companies, claiming it “clears the way” for a natural gas pipeline.
However, the letter about natural gas signed by the chief executives of ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and BP makes no commitments.
By Becky Bohrer | AP
JUNEAU–Some Alaska lawmakers, hoping to make a point about federal encroachment on state rights, are urging the federal government take over New York City’s Central Park and designate it as a wilderness area.
By Amanda Coyne | ALASKA DISPATCH
In a wide-ranging State of the State address Wednesday night, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell told Alaskans that much of the future of this state will be determined by the actions of legislators in the upcoming session.
by Jeff Richardson | FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
FAIRBANKS—Gasoline prices in the $4-per-gallon range may be uncomfortably high for many Fairbanks residents, but Doug Reynolds believes prices in the years ahead could make these seem like the good old days.
Reynolds, a professor of oil and energy economics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said he sees oil prices soaring in the next five to 10 years, “easily” reaching $200 per barrel or more.
That increase, roughly double the current price of oil, would translate into gasoline in the $5 to $10 range at the pump, he said.
By Andrew Halcro
JUNEAU–According to the Alaska Department of Revenue, the state will depend on oil & gas revenues to fund 92% of state spending this coming fiscal year. With increasing government costs and decreasing oil production, Alaska’s economic engine needs an overhaul.
In 2007, just weeks after successfully pushing through the largest tax increase on the oil & gas industry in the state’s history (ACES), the Palin administration proudly predicted that oil production would be 675,000 barrels per day in 2011. The actual production number turned out to be 603,000 barrels per day.
In fact, according to the optimistic projections after the tax increase was adopted, the Palin administration didn’t forecast Alaska’s daily oil production would drop to current day levels until 2022.
Looks like we arrived at their projected decline destination ten years early.
by Jeff Richardson | FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
FAIRBANKS — Filing for an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend check is a happy ritual for most Alaskans, but this year some residents have been a little too eager to get their paperwork in the mail.
The Alaska Department of Revenue has received hundreds of applications this week for the 2012 PFD and expects as many as 1,000 could arrive in Juneau by the end of the year.
That prompt attention comes with a drawback: Applications aren’t valid unless they’re signed and delivered after Jan. 1.
Press release:
Permanently banning responsible development of the enormous energy resources beneath Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) takes billions of dollars out of the economy, costs Americans sorely-needed jobs and contributes to higher prices to heat their homes and gas up their cars, says U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. Read more->
Press release
WASHINGTON, D.C.–Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Rep. Don Young (AK-at large) announced plans to introduce the Alaskan Energy for American Jobs Act to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for future energy production and job creation. Read more->
By Dan Joling | ASSOCIATED PRESS
An investigation of a federal scientist in Alaska whose observations of drowned polar bears spurred national publicity on climate warming was started after allegations made by another Interior Department employee.
State of Alaska press release
ANCHORAGE–The State of Alaska filed an appeal challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 listing of the polar bear as a threatened species. The state seeks to overturn a June decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that upheld the listing. Read more->
Wesley Loy | PETROLEUM NEWS
WASH D.C.–The federal rollout of a draft management plan that could lead to huge new sections of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge being designated “wilderness,” including the potentially oil-rich coastal plain, drew immediate disdain from top Alaska politicians.
By Jonathan Grass | JUNEAU EMPIRE
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases its revised draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge today.
Bruce Woods, the Service’s chief of media relations for the Alaska Region, said this is the regularly scheduled review process for refuges within the state. He said this revision was announced during the first public comment period in April 2010.
by Alan Bailey | PETROLEUM NEWS
In the Parnell administration’s latest foray against what it sees as federal overreach in the management of the Alaska’s lands and natural resources, it has voiced strong objections to proposed new water and wetlands guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Becky Bohrer | ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article.
Charles Monnett is an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
by Andrew Halcro | andrewhalcro.com July 25, 2011: Alaskans have learned to expect consistent behavior from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it comes to resource development; consistently bad.
The EPA will soon decide on whether to unilaterally impose a more stringent national standard for air quality, despite concerns that doing so will violate our own federal Clean Air Act…
Press release:
JUNEAU–Governor Sean Parnell released the following statement after President Obama signed an executive order forming a new, high-level, interagency working group to coordinate on energy development in Alaska. Read more->
By Dan Joling | AP
ANCHORAGE–President Obama on Tuesday signed an executive order creating an interagency working group to coordinate energy development in Alaska, a move hailed by lawmakers who want to see drilling in Arctic outer continental shelf waters.
By Jonathan Grass | JUNEAU EMPIRE
With Alaska’s oil reserves on the decline the question many face is how to prepare for lower levels of product flowing through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). Alyeska’s comprehensive Low Flow Impact Study report concludes that the line can be safely operated at levels down to 350,000 barrels per day. This limit could only be a decade or so away.
by Frank Murkowski
Today, poll after poll shows Americans supporting the opening of ANWR. Yet, at a time when our national energy security is at risk, the cost of imported oil is around $100 a barrel, and TAPS is running at only one-third capacity, the national environmental groups have managed to prevent even the minor amount of development in ANWR proposed by Sen. Murkowski.
As a result of national environmental group pressure the current administration has failed to take the actions necessary to develop oil resources in Alaska and has the wrong attitude regarding oil development in ANWR.
By Eric Lidji | PETROLEUM NEWS
Alaska is one of the least attractive places in North America for oil and gas investment, according to recent survey of international petroleum industry executives.
The State of Alaska ranked 83rd out of 136 jurisdictions while the federal Alaska Outer Continental Shelf ranked 78th, according to the Global Petroleum Survey by the Fraser Institute, a right-leaning Canadian think tank.
Congressman Don Young addresses Alaskans at Dyea while District 5 Republican vice-chair Kathy Hosford looks on.
SKAGWAY–Bright, sunny weather greeted Congressman Don Young when he visited Skagway and Dyea Monday afternoon. After a tour of the ore terminal and newly constructed waterfront facilities with city officials, he made an appearance at a District 5 Republican fundraiser at the Chilkoot Trail Outpost in Dyea.
Speaking to a crowd of about 60 people, Young covered subjects from federal control over Alaska and its residents to natural gas, oil and the economy.
Press release:
Sealaska will convene the 38th annual meeting of shareholders on Saturday, June 25, 2011. The agenda includes sharing Sealaska’s 2010 highlights , celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, introducing the 2011-2012 Board Youth Advisor, and announcing the election of four board members.
The annual meeting will be webcast for those who are unable to attend in person.
The Haines Alaska News is a public information service of the Alaska Alliance for Commerce, Inc., a grassroots movement organized to advocate for small business and a free market economy in Alaska.
The AAFC is organized under section 501(C)(4) of the U.S. Tax Code; contributions are not tax deductible.
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by Andrew Halcro
State of Alaska press release
