As the Alaska Legislature barrels toward the end of its regular session, several energy bills are among those being debated in Juneau. As we’ve previously reported, there are two worth keeping an eye on, as they would fundamentally change Alaska’s energy future if passed. Anti-oil legislators believe Alaska isn’t receiving its ‘fair share’ of revenues from producers, so they’re pushing Senate Bill 114 to overhaul the underlying tax structure.  It would cut in half the per-barrel tax credits given to producers, as well as establish ‘ring fencing’ around projects, so that operating losses from one project can’t be used to…

Same song, different day. Alaska’s legislators are about to overhaul the state’s oil tax laws based on the worst government policy known to man: the need for more spending money. We would like to think our elected officials set policy targeting Alaska’s most important private sector industry based on what would lead to more oil production, more investment dollars coming into the state, or what would ensure the energy security of most of the state’s population. Now, the policy being considered in the State Senate appears to be nothing more than a cash grab. Anti-oil legislators have consistently cried about…

Late yesterday, without much fanfare, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Pacific Division ruled that its Alaska Division erred when it denied the Pebble Limited Partnership’s permit to develop the copper, gold, molybdenum and rhenium mine in Southwest Alaska. Noting that the rejection was based on faulty science, the Pacific command returned the process to Alaska, ordering that team to review and correct the errors. While noting that this doesn’t mean Pebble’s entire mine plan – one which received a clean Final Environmental Impact Statement from the Corps – should be approved, the order does bring to question whether the…

When the Biden Administration talks about transitioning to ‘green’ energy, it consistently notes that the U.S. must find domestic supplies of critical and strategic minerals. It needs only to look “North to Alaska” for a mining district rich in supplies, already approved through the NEPA process, and with broad support. The Ambler district requires a 211-mile road to access the mineral riches, and even though the project’s environmental review was approved in 2020, it has been put on ice by Team Biden, citing environmental and indigenous group input in the initial review. So this week’s notice that the North Slope…

Late last week, the Department of Energy reapproved the export plans for the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation.  AGDC plans to build an 800-mile-long LNG pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to Nikiski, which would not only allow for exports to Asia, but also shore up the energy and heating needs for the vast majority of Alaska’s population for decades. In a press release sent by Power The Future last Friday, Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck noted, “This is a significant step toward getting more jobs for our families and a boost toward getting the Alaska LNG (AK-LNG) pipeline project built.” The…

With the way the Biden administration has set its sights on thwarting Alaska’s development projects since taking office – with 49 of the 50 administrative and executive decisions harming jobs, and only the traded-off Willow project helping – any news from the Great Land regarding new opportunities are cause for celebration. So, when Petroleum News’ latest issue highlighted three announced exploration efforts, cheers were likely heard throughout the state. First, Hilcorp announced it had submitted a plan to drill up to 38 wells during the July, 2023 to June, 2024 period throughout its Prudhoe Bay units.  This is a significant…

We’ve had plenty of reasons to complain about Alaska-based U.S. District Court judge Sharon Gleason in the past.  Originally appointed during the Obama administration, Gleason has a clear eco-driven bias in her judicial career, thwarting development opportunities, road development and other projects that would have moved Alaska forward. But yesterday, she started the week off right for rational Alaskans, ruling against motions for preliminary injunction that would have stopped any work from being done this winter on ConocoPhillips’ Willow project. “The court has weighed the environmental harm posed by the proposed winter 2023 construction activities against the economic damages, benefits…

Anyone who has followed Alaska politics for any length of time knows State Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) is an unabashed and unapologetic anti-oil legislator.  Even though his primary job is a labor union attorney, and many of the hands his union represents are industry workers, Wielechowski shows no love for those employers.  Every two years, one can expect Wielechowski to introduce some piece of legislation designed to punish Alaska’s leading private-sector employer. So when Senate Bill 114 was introduced last Friday, with Wielechowski as the prime sponsor, it wasn’t a shock.  What drew attention was the veracity of the penalties…

With the Biden Administration now having gone nearly two weeks without an administrative or executive order hurting one of Alaska’s resource development opportunities, it gives everyone a chance to take a deep breath and re-focus. For renewable energy zealots – you know, the misguided souls who believe ‘green’ energy solutions can be made cost-effectively, and somehow, will work all the time instead of intermittently – 2023 is the year to throw down their gauntlet, make demands and force their desired outcomes on the state. They’ve found willing legislators in the Alaska House and Senate to be their patsies and introduce…

Some quick background before we talk about eco-stupidity: Alaska is blessed with abundant natural gas reserves.  Nearly 250 trillion cubic feet of gas are currently stranded on Alaska’s North Slope; enough to power the Railbelt for hundreds of years.  The Cook Inlet has been Southcentral Alaska’s main gas source, and there are plenty of untapped reservoirs in the area.  We also have a hundred years or more of known coal reserves through the Usibelli Coal Mine, located in Healy, Alaska, and the current supplier of power to the majority of Denali National Park and towns north to Fairbanks. Unfortunately, Alaska…