Legislature gets AGIA 03/11/2007
First hearing in House OandG March 13; Alaska legislators support concept
The Alaska Legislature is now in possession of Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, with the first hearings scheduled on the bill in the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas March 13. ...

Cash, but no ownership 03/04/2007
Alaska gas pipeline act has state investing up to $500M for certification
Alaska would contribute to upfront costs of an Alaska natural gas pipeline project, but would not be an owner, Gov. Sarah Palin said Feb. 28 from Washington, D.C. The governor, in the nation's capita...

MINING NEWS: Legislature attacks Pebble on two fronts 02/25/2007
Bills in Alaska House and Senate aim to protect fish and wildlife but could be disastrous for Bristol Bay area development
Seven Alaska legislators are endorsing two new bills on the protection of salmon and wildlife that would effectively block the development of the proposed Pebble mine. Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham,...

MINING NEWS: Alaska mining news summary: Tight personnel, equipment market in busy mining industry 02/25/2007
Okay, the lull is over. It lasted about 25, maybe 30 minutes, after I wrote those prophetic but ill-considered words in late January! Shortly after that point I was in Vancouver for the annual Cordill...

Oil Patch Insider 02/18/2007
TAPS starts first new electric pumps; Agrium writes off Nikiski; Palin slams Exxon; Petro-Canada not going to operate in NPR-A
The startup of the new electric pump system at pump station 9 of the trans-Alaska pipeline has started to bring to fruition the years of work involved in the strategic reconfiguration of the pipeline...

Irwin back at DNR 02/18/2007
Governor brings back former commissioner; Marty Rutherford to focus on gas
If more proof were needed that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is headed in a different direction on North Slope gas pipeline negotiations than that of the previous administration, Palin's appointment of Tom...

Gov. Palin reappoints Forester to AOGCC 02/04/2007
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Jan. 31 that she has reappointed Commissioner Cathy Foerster to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Foerster has 30 years of oil-industry experience and has w...

Juneau headed toward ethics showdown 02/04/2007
Governor, lawmakers pledge cooperation; actions suggest possible cracks in solidarity as white paper, legislation emerge from Palin's office
It may not be the OK Corral, but that didn't keep Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and state lawmakers from starting this year's session with their ethics guns blazing. Days into the session a Palin initiativ...

ANGDA goes local 02/04/2007
Alaska Gas Market System looks at 1.25 bcf line to Southcentral, Valdez
Hung out to dry during the Murkowski administration - which focused exclusively on a project by the major Prudhoe Bay owners to take Alaska North Slope gas to the Lower 48 - the Alaska Natural Gas Dev...

MINING NEWS: Pebble opponents don't discourage Northern Dynasty 01/28/2007
Fieldwork, community meetings for Pebble project will continue this year against backdrop of well-funded negative campaign
Campaigners against the Pebble copper-gold project in southwest Alaska look set to spend more money than ever in 2007, but for mining junior Northern Dynasty it will be business as usual, with work at...

MINING NEWS: Mining and the Law: Governor picks knowledgeable expert to lead DEC 01/28/2007
While the jury may still be out when it comes to our new governor, Sarah Palin, it sure seems like she is starting off on the right foot. Every administration must wrestle with the need to recruit hig...

Ethics debate heats up in Juneau 01/28/2007
Experts advise state legislators on strategies to restore public trust via overhaul of rules of conduct for citizen Legislature
Republican leaders in the Alaska Legislature have vowed to draft ethics legislation to close loopholes in state laws, and Gov. Sarah Palin is planning to craft her own ethics package. Thanks to prese...

Crude oil price down, but Alaska on track for big surplus says Williams 01/28/2007
The price of Alaska crude oil has plummeted in the last six months, but an economist said Jan. 22 that the state is still in position to reap a big surplus. Oil fell almost $30 a barrel in six months...

Competition key to Palin gas line bill; Alaska Legislature waiting for administration's proposal 01/28/2007
As the 25th Alaska Legislature got started in mid-January, the North Slope gas pipeline project was a topic of high interest, one Gov. Sarah Palin discussed at some length in her state-of-the-state ad...

MEET ALASKA 2007: Alaska wants gas pipeline, but industry needs fairness, predictability 01/21/2007
Petroleum News: What advice do you offer Alaska's new governor, Gov. Sarah Palin? Jim Eason: My advice is centered on what she apparently is doing, based on her public comments and her comments befor...

MEET ALASKA 2007: Don't sweat the small stuff 01/21/2007
Boyd urges Gov. Palin to focus on gas line, inter-agency conflicts and issues critical to Alaska's future
Boyd urges Gov. Palin to focus on gas line, inter-agency conflicts and issues critical to Alaska's future Petroleum News: What advice do you have for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin regarding oil and gas matt...

Two gas pipeline entities will work together 01/21/2007
Alaska Gasline Port Authority, Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, sign MOU; governor pleased with cooperation
The Alaska Gasline Port Authority and the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority have signed a formal agreement to work cooperatively on developing a natural gas pipeline. Officials with the two vot...

Competition the key 01/21/2007
Palin: new gas line bill's inducements will give Alaska 'skin in the game'
Alaska's new governor, Sarah Palin, says the state must ramp up resource development across Alaska, beef up oversight on the North Slope and end warehousing of the state's resources at Point Thomson....

Oil Patch Insider 01/14/2007
Begich berates ANWR drilling ban bill; Palin names Hartig to head DEC; Governor to speak at Jan. 19 Meet Alaska conference
The latest bid in Washington, D.C., by Rep. Ed Markey, R-Mass., to prohibit oil exploration on the 1.2-million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lit a fire under at least one D...

Bush lifts moratorium 01/14/2007
Bristol Bay will probably be part of MMS 2007-2012 lease sale schedule
In a not entirely unexpected move on Jan. 9 President Bush lifted the moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian planning area, an area that includes the outer continental shelf of Alaska...

Alaska opposes suit to reduce emissions 01/07/2007
A dozen states are in court trying to force the federal government to reduce automobile emissions that contribute to global warming, but Alaska, where the effects are most apparent, is not one of them...

AEDC releases 2006 workforce development report 01/07/2007
The Anchorage Economic Development Corp. has released its 2006 workforce development conference report, which includes action items that were generated during BP and Vision Anchorage's joint conferenc...

DEC report shows big issues looming 12/31/2006
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation faces increasing costs, shrinking federal funding; spill fund unsustainable
State environmental regulators are facing increasing costs and shrinking federal funding and a fund set up to help prevent oil spills could be unsustainable by 2009, according to a report by a transit...

Propane demo in works 12/31/2006
ANGDA: Proposal to truck 100 bpd from Prudhoe to Yukon River propane facility
While a gas pipeline from the North Slope could directly benefit communities along the line such as Fairbanks - or those in Southcentral via a spur line - providing access to natural gas for Alaska ru...

MINING NEWS: No fish refuge yet for Pebble project 12/24/2006
Campaign by Trout Unlimited fails to win support of Alaska's Board of Fisheries, but a committee will consider what actions to take
Alaska's Board of Fisheries has declined a proposal to recommend to the Legislature that a fish refuge be created near the Pebble project site. Instead, the Board will establish a three-person committ...