The Anchorage Assembly is at it again, potentially sacrificing always-on electricity production in the name of special-interest pandering. We’ve written before about the Assembly’s obsession with removing the Eklutna Dam, which provides approximately 6% of Anchorage’s power, but 90% of its drinking water.  They say they’re acting in the best interests of the Municipality, but putting power and water at risk to 275,000 people isn’t good public policy. Next Tuesday, they’re formalizing their resolution to oppose the reauthorization of a 1991 agreement that the hydro/water project’s owners have spent five years studying and completing the mitigation and enhancement plan for. …

Earlier today, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) announced it had entered into a Gas Sales Precedent Agreement (“GSPA”) between AGDC subsidiary 8 Star Alaska LLC and Great Bear Pantheon, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pantheon Resources. The announcement is huge news for advocates of the Alaska LNG pipeline project, which would deliver gas from Alaska’s North Slope to a terminus in its southcentral region. Aside from hundreds of Alaska jobs, there is long-term potential for exportability of North Slope gas.  First and foremost, however, having a firm supply of gas makes it easier for the AK-LNG project to complete…

With the radicalization of America’s energy system by ENGOs and ideologues an ongoing issue, utility boards have become a relatively new battleground.  Thankfully, people are waking up to their importance, and voting in numbers not historically seen in utility elections. Last Friday night saw a fundamental shift in the ideology of Alaska’s largest electric utility.  After a month-long election process, ratepayers won, as the current board chair of Chugach Electric was bounced from his seat.  The new board member, Dan Rogers, has a background in power generation, and is a former Chugach Electric employee.  His knowledge of energy, coupled with…

With Alaska’s legislative session constitutionally mandated to end at 11:59 PM on Wednesday night, there are still plenty of items for the 60 men and women serving the state to consider. When it comes to energy legislation, the most pressing pieces involve how to deal with a potential Cook Inlet natural gas supply crunch.  Whether incentivizing producers to explore and drill more or supporting the construction of additional storage to hold imported natural gas, delaying approval of some sort of plan would be irresponsible.  Grid upgrades are also being discussed, albeit for reasons we won’t always agree with legislators on. …

With less than 10 days to go in Alaska’s legislative session, the ‘controlled chaos’ typical for this time of the year began in earnest late last week.  As reported previously, a State Senator with an anti-oil history, Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) tried to introduce an amendment to a bill that would have targeted Hilcorp’s S-Corporation tax status.  The cost to Hilcorp would have been in the hundreds of millions of dollars a year, money they let the Legislature know would be met with cutbacks to its ongoing investment in the state’s oil and gas fields. Although the amendment passed the Senate’s…

Mary Peltola, Alaska Democrat and its lone member of Congress, sure changed decided to forget who she represents in a hurry. Peltola earned praise for being the prime co-sponsor of legislation (HR 6285) to take back Congress’ authority when it comes to oil and gas development in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).  The resolution drew the ire of environmentalists when it was introduced last November, and Peltola was a prime target of their angst. Then, this week Peltola made a move that originally had veteran Alaska politicos bewildered.  She…

With 63 administrative and executive actions having been ordered against Alaska’s resource development industries since Joe Biden assumed the Presidency, no one can say that the federal administration has ignored the 49th State. Alaskans from across the state have done what they can; testifying at Congressional hearings, writing thousands of letters to the administration and working through local, state and Congressional government officials to amplify the message: No more! And with a piece of Congressional legislation hitting the House floor this week, maybe Alaska will have its voice codified by the Peoples’ House. Sponsored by Minnesota Congressman Pete Stauber (R)…

Leave it to President Biden to ruin the collective weekends of 725,000 Alaskans looking to enjoy a bright future in the Great Land. This morning, his Department of Interior and its Bureau of Land Management announced actions that – if allowed to stand – will cost thousands of Alaskans new job opportunities, and state and local governments tens of millions in tax and royalty revenues. Between finalizing Interior’s September, 2023 declaration that more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska would be off-limits to future development, and overriding Congressional approval of the Ambler Access Project and declaring the…

13 million acres of federal lands off-limits to development of any kind.  Projects already underway possibly having their access routes shut down.  Untold jobs, revenues and resources stripped away by administrative order. All of it courtesy of the Biden Administration under new rules being handed down within days. Those are the implications of the Department of Interior’s new proposed regulations – made public yesterday – involving the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.  Under the guise of saving the planet from a made-up climate crisis, the proposed plans would undercut development plans of some of the nation’s biggest potential fields. Even more egregious,…