Mining News: Mineral, oil and law experts lead DNR 12/19/2010
Parnell calls on attorney general to lead natural resources department, calls on Fogels, Balash to bring energy, mining experience
Since being elected to his first full term as Alaska's governor in November, Gov. Sean Parnell has delivered tough words to groups he sees as attempting to block the development of the state's resourc...

State defends tax claims 09/26/2010
Alaska lawyers rebut BP's argument that state can't collect for Prudhoe spills
Back in August, lawyers for BP argued the state can't collect back taxes on North Slope production shortfalls related to neglected, leaky oil pipelines. That would violate the Alaska Constitution, the...

No production, no tax 09/05/2010
BP argues state claims for back taxes on 'lost' Slope oil are unconstitutional
BP is raising a new legal argument to try to limit the extent of damages the state can collect for the 2006 pipeline spills in Alaska's giant Prudhoe Bay oil field. The state wants back taxes on oil p...

Mining News: Superior court weighs in on Pebble case 07/25/2010
Decision on constitutionality of Alaska's regulations as applied to the huge mining project could affect entire resource industry
On July 9 Alaska's Superior Court entered an order in a case now pending against the state's Department of Natural Resources concerning the propriety of a series of multiple land use permits and tempo...

Arctic Directory: State of Alaska's oil and gas director says state is open for business 03/21/2010
At the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, we take seriously the Alaska Constitution's charge to encourage "the development of its resources by making them available for m...

Administration oil tax change bill filed 02/14/2010
Parnell proposes 'four discrete changes' to production tax; in House bill Johnson proposes tax reduction, credits for Alaska hire
Earlier this year Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell talked about the changes he would like to see made in ACES, Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share, the state's oil and gas production tax. The administration bi...

Mining News: We've stepped through the looking glass 12/20/2009
Climate change debate accelerates society's departure from using deductive reasoning, logic; mushrooming litigation fuels trend
As I age up, the world does appear to be, as Alice would say, curiouser and curiouser. I have long been bemused by the obvious observation that logic and reason have little to do with how humanity co...

Mining News: Suit worries natural resources industry 08/30/2009
Trustees for Alaska sues state, claiming DNR and the Legislature created a scheme to skirt public comment of water use permits
Alaska's resource development community is responding en masse to a civil suit filed by environmental law firm Trustees for Alaska that contends permits issued by the Alaska Department of Natural Reso...

Thomson legal battle rages 06/07/2009
Palin sounds conciliatory note at Exxon lunch; hails project launch, local hiring
ExxonMobil has resumed drilling at Point Thomson after many years, and Gov. Sarah Palin actually had some words of praise in early June for a company she has jabbed from time to time. But these develo...

Alaska PFD payments expected to shrink 03/22/2009
Proposal in Senate would stabilize permanent fund dividends, now expected to shrink to under $100 in 2013, fund managers say
Alaska Permanent Fund dividends could dwindle over the next four years to as little as $68 in 2013, according to projections by fund managers. Mike Burns, executive director of the $27 billion oil-wea...

Land transfer appeal upheld by court 03/22/2009
On March 13 the Alaska Supreme Court upheld an appeal against the transfer of 250,000 acres of state land to the University of Alaska's endowment trust. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and t...