NOV 7 MEET AND GREET FOR BILL WALKER AND CRAIG FLEENER

If you cannot read the details in the above graphic, the link below will take you to the website with the announcement.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=qiugaddab&v=001dXbC6UqaAI5fRUYGv57teBrwJ7cG9Z1nZrcgSMSgNh_gBde_5g0YO56KOq2nr6WjMe8yfwBH1o4VnGRjFryVwvF6T6P1xFeq4otpRkZLd218yGCEqC6niSjqxLc_g88HyS8vReTEWZ5zQ78WgMOudxEkq5dhDBaIGHD3rI6CwfZO1ypSqm9seH3D0sIgfY1oyAfXGcBZZaJSEW1ZiUEGkin6KOs1WnhzRLfzoKMN0hOFstCN5U0xXyiwrHckbZe9VCMSGr8bZLU4Y-mVbn349XVYMQYYnPJdGCPPjdIlBLc%3D

Campaign website:  http://www.billwalkerforgovernor.com/

Have we come to this?

Dan Fagan, commentator and pundit with an afternoon radio show went into a screaming hissy fit today that was one for the record books. Dan is a showman, first of all, and an alleged conservative—or so he says. He called Bill Walker’s supporters commies and socialists. Those are exactly the terms that he used.

Why did this otherwise, articulate, experienced, and knowledgeable reporter go off the deep end?

Apparently, Dan Fagan reacted to the yes or no requirement put to the candidates by the moderator at the Resource Development Council forum held today. The candidates could only answer yes or no.

Fagan billed his revelation as proof positive that Walker was a socialist and union schill who could not possibly be a conservative.
Apparently, unbeknownst to Fagan at the time of his hissy fit, Bill Walker followed up on the answer in an interview by ADN report Sean Cockerham post the debate at the Resource Development Council Governor’s Forum today. What Fagan did not have to pass on was the “rest of the story”.

This is what Walker was quoted as saying in the ADN:
“Q—How did you vote on the 2006 gas reserve initiative? Yes, no or prefer not to say. (The question was about a proposal to tax North Slope natural gas reserves until a pipeline was built to bring them to market. It could have imposed up to $1 billion annual tax on the gas under land leased primarily by Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco Phillips, most in the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields.)

Walker – Yes (Walker said in an interview after the forum that “we wanted to get the gas moving, the only thing we were missing for a gasline at that point was gas. At that point in time that looked like it was the way to go. I don’t believe that is the way to go at this point, the way at this point is to create the infrastructure. The producers have said…we will ship if there is a reasonable expectation of profit.”

Fagan is an accomplished reporter. He should have asked Bill Walker directly before labeling—slandering—Walker and his supports as commies and socialists in fit of outrage over a an absolute answer that was designed to reflect an absolutist position that did not apply to Walker. It should be stated that Walker has never served in the Legislature.

The Dan Fagan Show, on KFQD in the afternoon heavily promotes Ralph Samuels for governor.

Ralph Samuels is recognized as being in Third Place, folks, that’s why Fagan jumped without first “looking”. Fagan’s boy is losing, even with Rick Rydell on Keni 650 AM and Dan Fagan and Dave Stierens on KFQD 750 AM all pushing Ralph Samuels like he is our Savior and the only conservative running.

Fortunately, people are not stupid.

Former Rep. Ralph Samuels received over $10,000 from Bill Allen of VECO fame. This same former representative voted for the biggest capital budgets in the State’s history prior to Parnell’s whale of a budget. Those budgets included an increase in the size of state government by 800 employees. Yet, these “good conservatives” all tout Samuels as a fiscal conservative.

Yeah, well, if Samuels was a fiscal conservative, then I guess that would make Sarah Palin a fiscal conservative.

Samuels has also touted his leadership abilities. As House Majority Leader, his was the only vote against AGIA, Palin’s gas pipeline initiative. The only vote. In a House and Senate that did not really support or like Sarah Palin. Why was Ralph’s vote the only vote? When the going gets tough, and the objective is not what the troops want to achieve, a good leader picks up the pack and rifle and says, we gotta do it . . . let’s go. And, the troops either respect the leader enough to obey, or they don’t. Samuels stood alone. That shows me that he is not the hero that these guys continually represent him as, if he could not garner one additional vote in support of his position.

Samuels supports the bullet line, widely held by industry and the State to be too expensive to be competitive to imported LNG for Cook Inlet. That the bullet line would double the cost of natural gas in south central. How is that an economic plan?

Samuels also supports Conoco/BP’s Denali project. A gasline that does not have a market, and will take everything, the jobs, the money, the majority of the infrastructure to Canada. How is that putting Alaska first? How is that acting in concert with Article 8 Sec. 2 of Alaska’s Constitution? In this regard, Samuels shares common ground with Parnell.

Parnell supports AGIA, another take it all to Canada plan, and also supports the bullet line. Of course Parnell also considers himself above the law, given his problems with his appointment of legislators to the Governror’s office. These appointments were made in violation of Article 2 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska. How can we have a Governor who holds himself above the law?

Therefore, why does Fagan and the others try to paint the only gubernatorial candidate as other than what he really is? The only conservative running for the office of the governor of Alaska who will put Alaska and Alaskans first? And, who has a viable pipeline plan that 138,000 Alaskans mandated by vote in 2002?

If this man is a commie and an socialist to Dan Fagan, then Walker has good company in that regard. Given Ralph’s record, Rydell, Stierens and Fagan will have reconsider their labeling Sarah Palin as a RINO.

This race is too crucial for such silliness.

When TAPS falls to 300,000 bpd of oil, the system will be shut down. The problem of the oil companies going elsewhere is not ACES, but a combination of taxes, regulations and litigation . . . and, a world wide recession that reduced the demand for oil.

As a result of the regulatory environment, of which taxes are a part, and the litigatory environmental greenie assault on the oil industry through the courts, the oil companies went wherever they could work with as little environmental and regulatory hassle as possible. They went for as little as $1 per barrel of profit.
Yet, according to the pundits, it was all because of ACES.

Male bovine offal.

Alaskans must be informed. Please take the time to attend forums and read the websites of the various candidates. Listen to the pundits, but take what they say with a grain of salt. Fagan did his credibility a great deal of harm today by calling good people something that they are not: commies and socialists.

Fagan owes Bill Walker and his supports an apology and his listeners an apology for his acting without the “rest of the story”.

For more information:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/152634?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted#Comments_Container

What part of will of the people do not our elected officials understand ?

The election of 2002 saw the creation by the will of the people of an entity that is unique among the State’s agencies, boards and authorities. Something since ignored by former Governor Frank Murkowski, former Governor Sarah Palin, and now Governor Sean Parnell and the members of those legislators holding office from 2002 to the present. That something was the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority (ANGDA).

Let me remind you what we created. I have excerpted the relevant parts that remind us just exactly what we created this authority to accomplish and why it was created. Note the references to the looming Cook Inlet crisis.

You can find the following at http://www.elections.alaska.gov/petitions/01gsln.htm

“Petition ID: 01GSLN: The All-Alaskan Gasline Initiative:An Act establishing the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, to maximize revenues for Alaska and jobs and gas for Alaskans.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:“. . . FINDINGS AND INTENT.
(a) The people find that
1. The Phillips-Marathon liquefaction facility at Nikiski has been supplying Cook Inlet natural gas to Japan and Southcentral Alaska at great profit and without interruption since 1969;
Cook Inlet gas supplies are dwindling rapidly with shortfalls anticipated as early as the winter of 2003;
2. Alaska's North Slope contains vast proven reserves of natural gas that have been known for at least 25 years but have never been developed;
3. these gas resources have never been offered for sale, because there has been no way to transport them to market;
4. multiple markets in North America and Asia have recently expressed an interest in receiving a proposal from Alaska for the purchase of Alaska gas;
5. if developed, these natural gas resources could represent substantial economic benefits to Alaskans in jobs, state revenue, and gas for Alaska citizens and businesses;
the major North slope leaseholders have competing gas reserves in other parts of the world vying for the same markets, creating a conflict of interest for them in advancing the sales of Alaska gas;
6. the North slope Producers agreed in 1991 to strand North Slope gas until at least 2005;
given the producer's conflicts of interest and their historic refusal to make North Slope natural gas available it may be necessary to take the gas back;
the permits necessary for an Alaskan gasline project have been pledged to the Alaska Natural 7. Gas Development Authority, operating as a port authority, to facilitate the development of the project;
8. there is sufficient gas for an all-Alaskan gasline project;
9. the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority offers substantial tax benefits that improve the economics of a gasline project;
10. state ownership of the pipeline and associated facilities has the potential to provide substantial revenues to the state and the Alaska Permanent Fund; and
11. Alaska's constitution requires that Alaska's resources are developed, utilized, and conserved for the maximum benefit of Alaska's people.
12. an all-Alaskan gasline maximizes jobs for Alaskans, revenues for the Alaskan treasury, and access to gas for Alaskans.
(b) It is the intent of this Act to create the All-Alaskan Natural Gas Development Authority for the purpose of developing, constructing, managing, and operating a gas pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska and a spur line to the Southcentral Alaska natural gas distribution grid.”

What was the anticipated completion date of ANGDA’s project?

”1. The goal of the authority is to have the Alaskan gas line in full production by 2007.”

Had ANGDA’s mission been executed upon, Alaska and Alaskans would be enjoying revenues from 2 bcf per day of gas exported to Asia at $10 mmbtus, with the jobs, infrastructure and industry from the pipeline, LNG trains, Valdez port improvements and the gas liquids to further enhance and buffer Alaska’s economy from the stupidity in Washington, D.C. Instead, we face rolling blackouts this winter, and a slowing economy.

Remember this disrespect shown our will by our elected officials in Juneau.

Palin’s appointment is going to haunt Parnell

Last year, Sarah Palin appointed a pipeline czar. Harry Noah, who was Executive Director of Mental Health Trust Lands, was appointed by Sarah to the newly created position of natural gas pipeline czar. The position was charged with overseeing the development of natural gas pipelines and moving Alaska’s gas to market. Harry is a miner without oil and gas experience, but is someone who has ties to Dep. Commissioner Marty Rutherford, Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR).

Rutherford was a former lobbyist for TransCanada. She has worked for the State in one capacity or another from the Knowles Administration through the Palin Administration, and now is one of Parnell’s upper echelon DNR staff. This individual, like Noah, has no oil and gas experience, but has been continually put in positions to influence oil and gas decisions.

The problem for Parnell is, that Noah’s post duplicates the voter created Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority’s (ANGDA) portfolio. ANGDA was created with the approval of Proposition 3 by 62% of Alaskans voting in the 2002 election.

What was ANGDA’s mandate?

To develop and market Alaska’s natural gas resources both in-state and for export, including the building of a natural gas pipeline to Valdez.
Then Gov. Frank Murkowski, who had campaigned on his own pipe dream, did not support ANGDA. Gov. Murkowski tried to give ANGDA the cold shoulder. He initially refused to fund ANGDA. Murkowski was finally forced to give the voter created authority an office and a meager budget to begin the job of getting Alaska’s gas to market. Murkowski then proceeded to continue to ignore ANGDA for the rest of his tenure as governor.
ANGDA remained in the shadow of the Murkowski pipeline to nowhere dream for the rest of the Murkowski Administration.

Sarah Palin, running against Murkowski in 2006, supported both an all-Alaska pipeline route down TAPS to Valdez and ANGDA as the vehicle to get our gas to market and to build the pipeline. During the gubernatorial campaign, Sarah criticized Murkowski’s pipe dream. ANGDA was mentioned prominently in many of her speeches on natural gas issues.

The looming Cook Inlet natural gas shortage was also a topic spoken of by our former Governor as an example of ignoring the obvious.

Once in office, Sarah Palin did a Frank Murkowski with her AGIA plan, which became the third such plan to build a large capacity (>4bcf/day) pipeline through Canada. This plan, like those of her predecessors, served to increase Canadian job opportunity, both in Alaska and Canada.

Earlier this year, Sarah appointed Harry Noah as her pipeline czar. Shortly thereafter, ANGDA’s funding was cut by the Palin Administration.

Since, the ongoing row between ANGDA and Noah has become more obstructionist on Noah’s part.

In creating the pipeline czar position, Gov. Sarah Palin did exactly what she campaigned against: duplication of mission, and an unnecessary growth of government.

As reported in the Copper Center Record in April of 2009, ANGDA has evolved into a highly respected professional organization with innovative ideas to get Alaska’s gas to market and to make use of the abundant propane that is part of our natural gas deposits for home and business heating in the Bush.

The core of ANGDA’s strategy has been to engage the private sector’s participation in its plans. The propane initiative has a commitment for propane production from the North Slope producers. Private companies will transport, distribute and sell the propane. ANGDA is conducting seminars so that electric utilities will be able to bid intelligently on natural gas supplies during the upcoming open season.

ANGDA has completed both the rights of way and economic studies for the Glenn-Richardson highway route for a 24 inch natural gas line to Palmer’s Enstar Hub. This route will take off from either the AGIA pipe at Big Delta or from an all-Alaska pipe to Valdez at Glennallen.
The economics of gas delivery are tied to volume. Taking off of either proposed big pipeline projects gives south central Alaska gas customers the best pricing for delivery. The cost of our gas will be included in the transport of the larger volume, thereby reducing the cost of any gas delivered to south central.

Pipeline Czar Harry Noah wants a 24 inch pipeline from the North Slope down the Parks Highway to Anchorage. The low volume of approximately 500 million cubic feet per day in comparison to the rates for transporting 2.5 bcf per day through an all-Alaska pipeline to Valdez will result in south central gas customers paying double or more on their gas rates to provide Fairbanks with essentially, the cheapest gas in the State. This is because Fairbanks gas would have the least cost for transport. Those of us in south central and on the Kenai would pay more because of the distance transported.

ANGDA’s position is that if the Open Seasons in 2010 for the Alaska-Canada pipe projects (AGIA and Denali) are a bust, then an in-State "bullet line" from the North Slope through Fairbanks down into south central Alaska should be considered. Until then, it makes the most economic sense to bring a spur line down the Richardson and Glenn highways off of any of the proposed large diameter pipeline projects to the gas hub at Palmer.

Presently, projects under consideration are Conoco-Phillips Denali project and AGIA (TransCanada and Exxon).

TransCanada and Exxon have recently expressed interest in an all-Alaska pipeline to Valdez and LNG terminal option, given the Canadian LNG terminal project at Kittimat, B.C. (This is what the Alaska voters created ANGDA to do in 2002.)

ANGDA has already completed much of the work in evaluating the Parks route. ANGDA’s work with that of the U.S DOE in 2005, private oil industry in the mid- 1990's, and the 1988 Federal Environmental Impact Study completed by the former Yukon Pacific Company (YPC) all concluded that while the Parks Highway route and the Richardson/Glenn are about equal in cost of construction, the Parks route has permitting and engineering hurdles yet to be addressed.

The Parks Highway route would require rights of way through State and federal parks and wildlife refuges, including major salmon tributaries. This route would be a lawsuit magnet by the environmental anti-development groups. Further, the route presents major engineering challenges along the route near Cantwell, Denali, and at Hurricane Gulch that have yet to be addressed.

The only route that will get natural gas to south central in a timely manner is the ANGDA route down the Richardson/Glenn Highway corridors. This route has none of the Federal or State environmental or engineering impediments. This route uses the existing TAPS oil corridor to Glennallen. The last 150 miles from Glennallen to Palmer is the only segment not in the TAPS right of way. In 2005, ANGDA acquired the State of Alaska Conditional Right of Way for last 150 miles to Palmer from Glennallen . Therefore, the route proposed by ANGDA has none of the impediments of the Parks Highway route. Both routes use the TAPS corridor right of way north of Fairbanks.

The ANGDA preferred route will provide the cheapest gas to Alaskans.

Pipeline Czar Harry Noah now intends to duplicate the work on the Parks Route with additional studies at additional State expense. Baker Engineering is contracted to repeat much of what has already been accomplished by ANGDA, the feds and YPC.

Playing against all of this is the looming shortfall in Cook Inlet natural gas supplies. The specter of rolling brown outs and blackouts during peak winter months are being publically discussed for the first time. The lack of sufficient supplies of Cook Inlet natural gas to fuel both homes and Chugach’s gas turbines at Beluga Point was openly and harshly discussed at a recent Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) meeting reported by the Petroleum News. The power utilities were criticized for not having any contingency plans for such an eventuality.

Yet, the reality is, this is a looming situation known for years. It is the result of the politics of oil in Alaska, and a lack of concern by Alaska’s Legislature and governors, including Sarah Palin.

As previously reported, Marthon Oil complained to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce earlier this year about declining gas supplies and the intransigence of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) in issuing new drilling permits for exploration, making it difficult for the oil company to plan and allocate drilling resources. Just 7 new wells were drilled in Cook Inlet last year.

Over 10,000 new wells were drilled in Alberta alone last year. That volume of new wells is considered a bad year for oil and gas in Alberta. Down from 13,000 the year before and 18,000 the year before that.

ANGDA was created by the voters in 2002 to do what Harry Noah was charged with under the Palin Administration. Gov. Sean Parnell is continuing that mistake.
Sarah Palin’s Harry Noah may be the albatross impeding the Parnell Administration’s attempt to get Alaska back on the oil and gas development map.

The voters knew what they wanted in creating ANGDA. We wanted an all-Alaska natural gas pipeline. However, three governors and the Legislatures of those years all failed us.

The Canadians are moving swiftly to tie up Asian gas markets for their LNG facility under construction at Kittimat, B.C.

Funny, the Canadians can export natural gas to Asia cheaply, but Alaska cannot.

Why?

Both Sarah Palin and Frank Murkowski attempted to thwart the will of the people by impeding ANGDA’s mission.

The specter of rolling brownouts and blackouts in the middle of winter in Alaska’s most populated region is real.

Parnell needs to eliminate the position of pipeline czar, and let ANGDA do its job. If he continues to allow Noah to create conflicts with ANGDA and to further delay the opportunity to put Alaska’s North Slope gas to best use, Parnell may very well have to answer to the people in 2010.

Governor Sarah Palin's 17 May ADN Compass about the NG pipeline

Governor Sarah Palin’s May 17th Compass response to recent criticisms regarding AGIA is simply specious. Factual support was glaringly absent.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/799018.html

Nothing Governor Sarah Palin wrote gave any indication whatsoever of the Palin Administration having any start date on construction for the AGIA line, much less an in-state line to the Anchorage area. Her statements were all too familiar.

Remember former Governor Frank Murkowski’s assertions of a ‘contract’ to build a pipeline to the Midwest? That turned out to be nothing but a PR ploy and wishful thinking. Now, Sarah is telling us that she is ‘keeping all options’ open.

Unfortunately, those options are AGIA and an as yet undetermined route for a 24 inch bullet line to south central, which will not be completed until the production in Cook Inlet has dropped beyond keeping Chugach Electric’s natural gas turbines running all year. At some point, if a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope does not deliver natural gas to south central by, say 2012, a decision will have to be made whether we heat homes with that gas or use the gas to provide electricity. There will not be enough natural gas to both provide power and heat homes.

A bullet line from the North Slope is essential to keep south central Alaska in heat and power.

Then candidate Sarah Palin supported an all-Alaska route for a natural gas pipeline during the campaign. I wrote about her position on that matter, and in support of the all-Alaska pipeline route to Valdez. Why did she change her position after taking office?

Why, in the face of all the negative commentary on her part regarding Frank Murkowski’s pipeline proposal during her gubernatorial campaign, did Sarah Palin go with AGIA? AGIA is a dead end. No different than Knowles’ or Murkowski’s large diameter pipe dreams.

Impacting this situation are new drilling technologies and strategies that have tripled the production from the massive shale natural gas deposits in the lower 48.

Why would the oil companies invest $25 billion to $50 billion to build a big pipeline when they could put the money to better use improving production technologies for the shale deposits and plugging that production into existing domestic natural gas distribution systems already in place in the lower 48?

With increasing shale deposit production, and the increase in receiving capacity for LNG in the U.S. to 4.5 bcf per day, where does Alaska natural gas fit into the domestic U.S. market?

Answer: it does not.

We missed the proverbial boat.

It does not take a genius to figure out that AGIA is now a dead end.

Yet, Alaska could have had a pipeline transporting natural gas to Valdez down the TAPS corridor and to the world market by LNG tanker within this decade, had Sarah followed through with her support of an all-Alaska option for moving our natural gas to market.

Unfortunately, Gov. Sarah Palin has joined her predecessors in their predilection towards the colonial economic model of raping Alaska’s resources though extraction without any in-state value added use of gas liquids contained in the North Slope deposits. Neither AGIA nor Conoco-Phillips Denali Project has any provisions for using Alaska’s gas liquids in-state. Under both AGIA and Denali, the gas liquids all go to the Canadians, with those jobs and infrastructure lost to Alaska.

The 2 bcf/day pipeline down TAPS to Valdez with a spur to Palmer from Glennallen would eliminate all of the uncertainties and controversy surrounding the viability of AGIA and which route is best for a spur line. Provision for in-state use of the liquids would also make this a truly value added resource development project. This is a project that could be built within 5 years.

ANGDA was created to manage exactly this sort of project.

Gone out of Sarah Palin’s vocabulary is much of what she campaigned on. In its place is vagary and specious promises all too familiar from the Murkowski days. In this regard, she has become what she replaced.

Face it Sarah, AGIA is dead.

AGIA is Dead--published in the Alaska Journal of Commerce

your OP-ED is everywhere worldwide now Larry.........no thanks needed.
these type replies keep coming in to me!

ya did good old man.
it's one hell of a factual, well thought out piece.
and you are right!
LNG export from Valdez is our only hope.
and with a spur off it at Glennallen.....bringing the cheapest tariff posssible to South-Central consumers
plus NGL's for in-State new value-added industries!

not some mini Enstar Parks Highway line!!
rape.

best,
S


Subject: Re: Opinion: Lower 48 develops huge gas reserves, rendering AGIA dead

Hey S..........once I finished reading this article, my first and only thought was a thoughtfully phrased "Well, no shit.....".
Best regards, Steve.
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 3:19 PM

Subject: Opinion: Lower 48 develops huge gas reserves, rendering AGIA dead

S
From the North,South,East and West, comes the messageSarah is out to lunch on instategas. She can't help but read the letters to the editor.
The e-mails
The phone calls
The pet. news articles
Larry Woods
I don't know whats wrong with her.
This instate gas with ANGDA isgetting up a head of steam
Logic and truth will prevail.
There's a reckoning coming up.I can't wait
Bill
-------------
As published in the Alaska Journal of Commerce 15 May, 2009:

Opinion: Lower 48 develops huge gas reserves, rendering AGIA dead
By Larry Wood

Alaska Journal of Commerce

Alaska has just been relegated to the back burner where any natural gas pipeline to the Lower 48 is concerned.
The Palin administration and its predecessors bet the bank on a 4 billion to 4.5 billion cubic foot per day pipeline that will never be built. AGIA (the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) is now a dead end.
What happened? Some 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in shale deposits is now being developed in northern Louisiana.
Known as the Haynesville shale deposit, this deposit has been known for many years. Some estimates put the potential reserves at 1,600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This formation is not unique.
The Barnett shale in Texas and many other such formations that run throughout the continental U.S. may hold as much as 2.2 quadrillion (2,200 trillion) cubic feet of natural gas. This is enough natural gas to fuel the U.S. demand for at least 100 years. Much longer if the upper-end estimates for the Haynesville shale prove to be anywhere close.
As with any of man's endeavors, technology keeps improving and what was impossible a few years ago is now possible. This is the situation with the shale formations. The drilling companies previously lacked the technology to exploit these deposits.
With the potential of these shale formations now in hand, the U.S. is awash in natural gas. The potential for this gas coming into production is very real; something that did not play into the planning of the big-diameter pipelines our governors seem to favor. The technology and strategies used today were not in place when former Gov. Tony Knowles first proposed his Alaska Highway route into the Lower 48.
AGIA is now relegated to the dustbin of history by virtue of the magnitude of the shale formation potential physically located within the U.S. market.
The Palin administration must see this and move forward to develop the only market available to it: the world, more particularly Asia, and preferably Japan and Taiwan.
The maximum amount of natural gas that can be moved off the North Slope and allow oil production to continue is about 2 billion cubic feet per day. This is because 2.5 billion cubic feet per day is required to keep the oil fields pressurized to maintain production.
Alaska must now focus on getting the 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas available to market.
What Gov. Sarah Palin must realize is that she had it right during the 2006 race. An all-Alaska pipeline of 1.5 billion cubic feet to 2 billion cubic feet capacity must be built from the North Slope to Valdez using the existing Trans-Alaska Pipeline System rights of way.
I understand that the permits are already largely in place to build the project.
Within five years, this pipeline could be moving gas to markets in Asia and elsewhere.
Keeping the all-Alaska natural gas pipeline at a level of 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day would give the required 500 million cubic feet of natural gas for a bullet line from Glennallen to Enstar's hub in Palmer. Fairbanks would receive natural gas from the main pipeline running down the TAPS right of way - just as was proposed during the 2006 campaign.
How does the state finance the project?
The precedent is already there in the manner in which the Alaska Railroad is run.
The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority is in place and ready to move forward.
Use the permanent fund to provide collateral for necessary bonding.
Selling the natural gas in the world market would allow us to get the highest price. The Russians have shown that they are unreliable; therefore, there is opportunity. The customer could benefit from a consistent and dependable supply.
Providing for a regulatory environment that would encourage oil and gas exploration would ensure that Alaska would have adequate in-state development of these resources and an ever-expanding ability to use these resources to the maximum benefit of Alaskans.
It is going to take a leader to make such a shift in paradigm.
The choice is yours, governor. You can either rewrite the paradigm or your administration can continue to flounder and continue to make no headway. Or you can decide to change the paradigm, and move this state to a place that those of us who backed you thought we were headed, until AGIA.
Larry Wood is the general manager of Terra Resources Ltd., an environmental cleanup and remediation company based in Palmer. He is currently working in Canada on an oil services-related project.

AGIA IS DEAD!

Alaska has just been relegated to the back burner where any natural gas pipeline to the lower 48 is concerned. The Palin Administration and its predecessors bet the bank on a 4-4.5 billion cubic foot per day pipeline that will never be built. AGIA is now a dead end.

What happened?

200 TRILLION cubic feet of natural gas in shale deposits now being developed in northern Louisiana. Known as the Haynesville Shale deposit, this deposit has been known for many years. Some estimates put the potential reserves at 1,600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This formation is not unique.

The Barnett Shale in Texas and many other such formations that run throughout the continental U.S. may hold as much as 2,200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This is enough natural gas to fuel the U.S. demand for at least 100 years. Much longer if the upper end estimates for the Haynesville Shale prove to be anywhere close.

As with any of man’s endeavors, technology keeps improving and what was impossible a few years ago is now possible. This is the situation with the shale formations. The drilling companies previously lacked the technology to exploit these deposits.

With the potential of these shale formation now in hand, the U.S. now is awash in natural gas.

The potential for this gas coming into production is very real. Something that did not play into the planning of the big diameter pipelines our governors seem to favor. The technology and strategies used today were not in place when Tony Knowles first proposed his Alaska Highway route into the lower 48 states.

AGIA is now relegated to the dustbin of history by virtue of the magnitude of the shale formation potential physically located within the U.S. market. The Palin Administration must see this and move forward to develop the only market available to it: the world, more particularly, Asia, and, preferably, Japan and Taiwan.

The maximum amount of natural gas that can be moved off the North Slope and allow oil production to continue is about 2 billion cubic feet per day. This is because 2.5 billion cubic feet per day is required to keep the oil fields pressurized to maintain production.
Alaska must now focus on getting the 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas to market.

What Governor Palin must realize is that she had it right during the 2006 race. An all-Alaska pipeline of 1.5 billion cubic feet to 2 billion cubic feet capacity must be built from the North Slope to Valdez using the existing TAPS rights of way.

I understand that the permits are already largely in place to build the project.

Within 5 years this pipeline could be moving gas to markets in Asia and elsewhere.

Keeping the all-Alaska natural gas pipeline at a level of 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day would give the required 500 million cubic feet of natural gas for a bullet line from Glennallen to Enstar’s hub at Palmer. Fairbanks would receive natural gas from the main pipeline running down the TAPS right of way. Just as was proposed during the 2006 campaign.

How does the State finance the project?

The precedent is already there in the manner in which the Alaska Railroad is run.

The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority is in place and ready to move forward.

Use the Permanent Fund to provide collateral for necessary bonding.

Selling the natural gas in the world market would allow us to get the highest price. The Russians have shown that they are unreliable, therefore, there is opportunity. The customer could benefit from a consistent and dependable supply.

Providing for a regulatory environment that would encourage oil and gas exploration would ensure that Alaska would have adequate in-state development of these resources and an ever expanding ability to use these resources to the maximum benefit of Alaskans.

It is going to take a leader to make such a shift in paradigm.

The choice is yours, Governor. You can either rewrite the paradigm, or your administration can continue to flounder and continue to make no headway. Or, you can decide to change the paradigm, and move this state to a place that those of us who backed you thought we were headed, until AGIA.