Oil Patch Insider: Pearce drops names and date of significance to Alaska

Drue Pearce dropped some names of interest to Alaskans when she spoke to the Resource Development Council in Anchorage Feb. 16.

Jeff Jarrett, formerly the director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement at the Department of the Interior, was recently named assistant secretary for Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy.

Here’s the kicker: The enabling legislation for the gas pipeline authorities that went to the Department of Energy has been delegated to Jarrett, Pearce said, “so he at the moment is the gas pipeline czar, if you will.”

Closer to home, Fish and Wildlife Service has a new regional director arriving this spring. Rowan Gould will be moving back to Washington, D.C., to take a new job at headquarters, Pearce said.

Tom Melius, the new regional director, expects to be working out of his Anchorage office by April 15.

Melius has spent time in Alaska and he and Henri Bisson, the Bureau of Land Management Alaska regional director, have worked together previously. He also has other contacts in Alaska, and Pearce said she expects “a relatively seamless transfer.”

Melius, presently assistant director for external affairs at Fish and Wildlife Service, has been assistant director for Migratory Birds and State Programs, and director of conservation policy and senior advisor at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Prior to joining Fish and Wildlife Service Melius spent 10 years as a professional staff member on the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries in the U.S. House of Representatives and two years as a senior professional staff member on the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

He earned a B.S. degree in wildlife biology and a M.S. degree in fish and wildlife science from South Dakota State University,

There was one name Pearce couldn’t give out: Cam Toohey’s replacement as special assistant to the secretary for Alaska hasn’t yet been named, but she said the department hopes to have an announcement in early March.

She also dropped a significant date: Sept. 27, she said is the date set for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas lease sales in both the northeast and northwest planning areas. The sales will include for the first time the lands north of Teshekpuk Lake.