IZEMBEK OUTRAGE!!!!!

There are few things that will torque me as much as the BS about "pristine wilderness". There is nothing "pristine" about Alaska's wilderness. It has been walked over, hunted upon, mined and developed at one time or another for over 10,000 years. Yet, a few, who have appointed themselves as the unofficial protectors of this great land--read exploiters who shamelessly use Alaska to raise funds to promote their insanity--blocked for many years something that should have been a no brainer.

Alaska, unlike the lower 48, is a state without surface transportation infrastructure, excepting a limited road and rail infrastructure within south central Alaska. There are few roads linking Alaska's western, southern and northern villages.

Many of Alaska's outlying villages comprise the United State's third world. No sewer, water, or roads. The village of Hoonah in southeastern Alaska managed to get its first generator for electric power (50KW unit) back in the late 1970s.

One of the most egregious and outrageous situations for many years has been the plight of the villagers of Kings Cove on the Alaska Penninsula. King Cove suffers from such lousy weather that the USCG will not fly their aircraft into King Cove. The nearest IFR airport is at Cold Bay, some 20 miles away.

Gee, that's not far. . . .

Except, that 20 miles is through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge that did not exist at the time of Alaska's becoming a State in the Union of States.

There is an ATV trail that links the two communities that is illegal to use, because of the INWR.

This no trespass of Uncle Sam's wildlife refuge meant that any villager in King Cove who has a medical emergency was in very dire straits.

For many years, Senator Ted Stevens tried to get a road built. In 1996, the feds invested in a $30 MILLION dollar clinic in Kings Cove to avoid upgrading the existing trail across the edge of the INWR. In 1998, to give the villagers better access, Congress authorized an appropriation for a hovercraft.

The bottom line is that 10s of millions of dollars have been spent to avoid bringing up an existing trail to a pioneer gravel road standard, such as is common throughout the Midwest. This money has been spent to circumvent the logical, rational, and necessary solution, which, all along, was the road.

What was the cost to the State of Alaska for the Senate of the United States accepting the road?

61,000 acres.

The sovereign State of Alaska had to bribe the Congress of the United States with land.

Why?

The Congress of the United States is so sensitive to the environmental lobby, that Congress seeks the satisfaction of those greedy, self-centered, arrogant twits over the needs of someone fighting for their life whose salvation is a few miles away through the INWR.

What is the impact of the road in terms of the number of acres actually impacted in the INWR? About 200 acres.

The necessity of this land swap was an egregious affront to the sovereignty of the State of Alaska.

Why is there no outcry from our Legislature, our Governor, or our Congressional delegation?

Cowardice, and the fact that most of these folks have grown up with placating the feds and their elitist environmental lobby.

Alaska's Statehood Compact was a compromise with Congress made with the recognition by Congress in the late 50's that the federal government did not have enough money in the treasury to provide Alaska with roads, airports, and harbours to the standards enjoyed by the rest of the states in the union. In lieu of the government spending money that it did not have, the Congress, in its infinite wisdom, gave the State of Alaska 90% of any non-renewable resource development in the state on both State and Federal lands. Since 1959, the federal government has continually reneged on this promise.

One of the implied promises was that the federal government would not impose stricter land classifications, nor classify additional lands more restrictively as to use. Then came ANILCA under Carter.

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was one of the most egregious acts against the intent in the Statehood Compact.

The land swap shows that Alaska is a State in name only. That Alaska must buy its citizens' needs from the environmental lobby.

Welcome to the colonies!

Why are Alaskans paying the highest prices at the pump?

In May of 1973, at the start of the OPEC oil embargo, the price for regular gas at the pumps in Palmer, Alaska was about 47¢ per gallon.

The major suppliers in the Alaska market at the time were Standard Oil, Tesoro, and Texaco.

In Palmer, the Texaco station was about 200 yards from the Tesoro station, in the building where the Alaska Fireplace, Co. is now located.

Tesoro was fairly new to Alaska having recently built a refinery at Nikkiski to process Cook Inlet crude into fuels for Alaska.

Texaco and Standard Oil moved refined fuels into Alaska by tanker.

(What?!!! That was done here? Ohhhhh. Uh . . . wait a minute, why then, has crude been moved from Valdez to the lower 48 and not refined fuels all of these years? Just think of all those jobs and infrastructure that could have benefited Alaska! Oh, it has to be refined Outside, because it’s . . . what? Too expensive to move it from Alaska refined? But, fuel was shipped to Alaska refined. Oh. Don’t ask. Oookaaay. Uh, I was just in Iowa where refined fuels come to the state by pipeline and then distributed. Gas there was $1.64 for unleaded without ethanol at the pump. What do you mean that’s there and not here?—The foregoing for all you Rick Rydell and Dan Fagan listeners out there who believe “big oil can do no wrong”.)

When the embargo was officially announced, and oil production cut by OPEC, Texaco and Standard Oil raised their prices immediately to about 92¢ a gallon at the pump citing decreasing supply issues and market forces.

Then “little” Tesoro stated publicly that Tesoro had no intention of raising its prices at the pump.

What do you think happened?

The other two oil companies sued Tesoro for unfair trade practices.

Tesoro claimed that there was no reason for it to raise its prices.

After the press on the issue had quieted down, Tesoro quietly raised its prices to match those of its out of state competitors and the suits by Tesoro’s competitors were dropped.

Two things came of that situation which had little or no notice from the press.

Tesoro began refining fuel for Texaco and Standard oil for the Alaska market.

Tesoro has matched its competitors’ prices ever since.

How do I remember this?

I was working for MTA at the time making $3.25 an hour as an apprentice central office switchman who was married with a kid on the way. The price of gas mattered even then.

Upon my return from Iowa on the 23d of December, the local price of gas at the pump was about $2.35. This morning (31 Dec.) the price was $2.45 per gallon for unleaded at the big Palmer Tesoro on the hill.

All because the Israelis bombed the Palestinians who have no oil, as the pundits would have us believe?

Our Legislature recently completed an investigation of pricing at the pump and pronounced no price fixing or other factor which would cause artificial inflation of our fuels in Alaska. That the prices are just what we have to pay.

Uh, huh.

I believe that the Palin Administration should fund a comprehensive study to be performed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Anchorage to determine whether or not we are paying a reasonable price for gas at the pump. The scope of the study should begin back in the last year Alaska was completely reliant upon refined fuels being shipped in by tanker through the present.

As in, “How much for how long have we been overpaying . . . or not”?

Why the U of A?

U of A would use business grad and undergrad students not beholding to the oil companies or any group whose re-election is dependent upon funding from oil companies.

I do not believe the State could hire a consultant to do the job, as the result would be clouded by politics.

The Legislature is certainly the last entity that I would trust to provide an unbiased finding.

It is time Alaskans had the truth about the cost of producing fuel and why we pay the highest prices in the U.S. for fuels at the pump versus what the real price at the pump should be.

How about it, Sarah?

Concoco-Phillips Denali Project

The decision by BP and Conoco Phillips to build a pipeline to take North Slope NG to Canada is a definite change of heart for two out of the three Producers on the North Slope.

I believe the reason for this change is not because all of a sudden BP and Conoco want to get NG off the North Slope, but rather because the alternatives are lacking for another high priority project.

Between unstable tundra along the proposed route due to permafrost melting to legal challenges by Deh Cho and other Native groups, and as yet unsettled right of way regulatory issues, the NG from the MacKenzie River Delta that was intended to fuel the separation of oil from the Alberta Tar Sands is not going to be available within the time frames originally envisioned for the MacKenzie River Delta pipeline project. An alternative had to be found, and Alaska’s North Slope gas reserves is that alternative.

The increasing price of oil is driving the recovery of oil from Alberta Tar Sands at an ever increasing pace. A supply of cheap NG is necessary to the economic viability of the separation process.

The only long term viable source of NG without rights of way issues at least to the Canadian border is found on Alaska’s North Slope. The rights of way and other issues would still have to be worked out to get the NG to Alberta, but, undoubtedly, BP will wield considerable influence in dealing with the Canadian side, given the Crown’s interest in BP along with the imperative to get the Tar Sands oil to market.

It is unlikely that Exxon will seek its own means to transport NG off the North Slope, especially with the promises made regarding development of the Pt. Thompson NG reserves made in order to retain those leases. Exxon is in a market it or else situation with the Pt. Thompson NG reserves. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume, that although unannounced, Exxon will eventually join with BP and Conoco Phillips.

Exxon was a player in the MacKenzie River Delta pipeline project, and a major advocate of taking Alaska’s NG over the top and plugging into the anticipated MacKenzie River Delta pipeline system.

Through a subsidiary, Exxon is also a major player in the Alberta Tar Sands project.

A major concern of those who live in the Mat-Su Valley is whether or not there will there be a provision for a spur line from Big Delta down to the Palmer Enstar NG Hub to provide NG for south central?

It is already a fact from the last round of this game under Murkowski that Alberta was all too willing to provide a ready market for Alaska’s NG liquids, such as propane and butane.

Will the Governor and the Legislature allow these valuable NG liquids to be transferred to Canada without proper consideration given to the long term benefits of value added processing in Alaska?

Stripping them out and using these gas liquids here would provide the building blocks for a petrochemical industrial base. A benefit with economic benefits far beyond just resource extraction that the pipeline represents.

Obviously, value added development of our NG resources would allow Alaskans greater opportunity beyond just the construction of a pipeline. Once the last pipe is welded into place, the pipeline jobs go away. Value added industrial development would be a lingering base upon which to ensure that the benefits from our NG resources go beyond fueling bloated, growing, and ever greedy state and local governments.

If the money goes directly to government, we all lose. If there is value added development, then we the people will benefit along with the Producers and government through jobs and infrastructure upon which to build industry.

The challenges for the Palin Administration, the Legislature and the Producers will be to balance the interests of all parties against the imperatives of the looming south central NG crisis, the economics of the proposed pipeline, and the constitutional requirement of the State to gain maximum benefit from the exploitation of this nonrenewable resource versus the interests of the Producers with respect to their profit motive.

Until there is a NG pipeline from the North Slope generating revenue, our responsibility as citizens will be to see that our elected officials do not spend revenue that is not there. And, to see that maximum benefit is exactly what is bargained for across the board.

Another blog dealing with this subject is to be found at http://www.blogged.com/about/denali-pipeline/

Be Proud, and be thankful for our armed forces.

We should be proud and thankful for our forefather’s bravery, integrity, and fortitude in their act of declaring independence from the most powerful nation on earth at the time.

The Declaration of Independence was a bell weather event in history.

The pursuit of those who signed that declaration was without mercy, remorseless and done to set an example for those who might again challenge the authority of the Crown.

Thank God that the Brits failed and that our forefathers were successful and courageous enough to see through a war that gave us our independence from Britain, the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.

There is no other document in any government by any people now or in the past so powerful and protecting of the individual against the despot as the Constitution of the United States. Nor one that is so continually assaulted by a well meaning, but deluded liberal mindset.

There are others today who sacrifice and whose courage and example should be touted across this land. The men and women of the United States military.

Recently, I was in Hawaii working a job at a USMC Marksmanship Range at Puuloa on Oahu. There, I had the privilege to meet some incredible young men and women.

The scars of Iraq were evident after duty hours when they would come out to the range in casual attire to ride their motorcycles or drive their 4X4s down to the beach. To see the extent of some of the physical effects of their encounters with IEDs was sobering. The extended recovery some of these Marines underwent constituted challenges in of themselves daunting and sobering to we mortals.

The mental scars also came out in riding motorcycles and ATVs drunk in the dark, without lights, hoping to quell the images, the dreams, the flashbacks, the detritus of war that never goes away. The memories of buddies so alive one minute and gone the next. The guilt of wondering why one survived and others did not.

These men and women were on the surface professional and alive, and on another locked into a reality that only they and those who had served there could understand. Like all vets of all wars.

Unlike previous wars, excepting the Revolutionary War, as that war was the only other war in U.S. history without a draft, these men and women, like their Revolutionary counterparts were volunteers. Not compelled by anything but their sense of patriotism, their sense of duty, their desire to preserve this country, no matter how much the libs have screwed it up.

Unsung heroes are their families who endure years of hardship, years of not knowing, years of uncertainty, and years of separation. I say years, as it is now years, as most of our troops have served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan amounting to years away from home.

The families have suffered. Like all too many, my youngest son and his wife divorced after his return from Iraq. His situation was not an exception. The damage to family is a terrible toll that goes unrealized by those who benefit from the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.

God bless those who serve, and their families who endure and sacrifice. And, thank you all for that service and that inconvenience, proving once again that the United States is worth the sacrifice.

For those of you who dishonor our troops, know that you can do so because of the sacrifice of the generation in service today, and those who have gone before. Especially, those guys way back in the beginning who heralded the call to freedom and gave you a Constitution that lets you have your opinion and the right to be a moron.

EPA is taxing cow and pig . . . what?!

As reported by the Business and Media Institute, the New Year is hardly in, and the EPA is attempting to reduce air pollution.

Gee, that is what EPA does, right?

What’s the big deal?

The EPA is proposing to reduce Green House Gas emissions from bovines and swine sources. Particularly, the methane produced by the aforementioned bovine and swine internal process of digestion resulting in . . . uh, there’s no polite way to write this . . . farts.

How does EPA propose to do this?

By imposing a tax on Bessy and Porky.

Everyone knows cows and pigs do not have any money! Otherwise the more prosperous would be using that wealth to buy dispensation from the slaughterhouse or buying out of a life of slavery in a milk barn for greener pastures or a new hog wallow.

EPA is not going to tax the animals. Instead, the old legal theory of respondent superior applies here. EPA is going to tax the farmer for each head of cow and pig owned.

The impact from this idiocy?

EPA is proposing a tax of $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per head of cattle raised for meat, and a $20 tax per hog.

Farms with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 head of cattle, or 200 hogs would need to apply for permits from EPA, or be fined.

The American Farm Bureau estimates that the impact upon dairy operations would be a minimum of 8 cents per gallon of milk produced in the U.S.

Cows and pigs will continue to . . . fart and the farmer will be taxed.

You and I will pay more for milk, bacon, and hamburger at the grocery store check out.

Evidently, the study and methodology I wrote about quite awhile back regarding the production of methane by said bovine sources must have produced something to cause the bean counters at EPA to salivate. The regulatory hawks in the EPA obviously believe that they can bite the American consumer with impunity under the guise of taxing cow farts.

I can imagine that the proceeds from this tax might fund research into mechanical aids to reduce these now illegal methane emissions from bovine and swine . . . farts.

A plug of some sort, probably. That would be the quickest solution to the bureaucratic mind for reducing emissions.

In which case, you gotta wonder who would be the poor soul who gets the job of screwing the darn thing in?

Worse, that poor fool would not be the most popular soul in the ol’ bull pen or pig pen. Those animals are not that stupid.

Can you imagine the employment ad?

“Wanted, individual male or female, with a good mechanical aptitude and strong forearms and strong hands. Must know a right hand screw thread from a left hand screw thread. Must not be squeamish or shy about animal biological processes. Good physical dexterity and the ability to run a quarter of a mile all out would be advisable. Rubber gloves, rubber boots, goggles, gas mask, and rubber suit provided.”

Can you imagine OSHA’s reaction to the first injury produced by a full blown dairy herd blow out comprising several hundred head blowing their plugs at the same time, injuring the aforementioned poor soul?

The end result of that regulatory oversight would make a medieval knight look underdressed.

I would like to point out to EPA that the Norwegians have studied this issue. The Norgies concluded that moose . . . farts, produce more methane than do bovine . . . farts.

I note that with bovines and swines being targeted for this tax, it may be that ACLU might come to their rescue alleging prejudice, given that moose are getting off scot free. Oh, yeah.

I further note that this tax awaited a new president with a socialist bent. One would think that with all the male bovine offal coming out of the Bush Whitehouse over the last four years as G.W. tried to out liberal the libs, such a tax would have been a shoe in.

All kidding aside, this is a serious matter with serious portent for the American consumer.

The proposed tax will not affect foreign grown beef, dairy and pork.

This proposed tax is in the public review period.

Call our Congressional delegation and let them know that we are taxed enough as it is. Tell them to have EPA lay off the bovine and swine . . . farts.