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| Fed Refusal To Permit Energy Development Strangling Alaskan Economy |
| 2010-11-30 |
| The Trans Alaska Pipeline (TAPS) is now two-thirds empty. In the past, great volumes of warm oil moving quickly through the pipeline enabled transportation of up to 20% of AmericaÂ’s domestic crude oil production even in AlaskaÂ’s cold, dark winters. With throughput now so low and dropping at a 6% annual rate, that historic investment is on its last legs absent the introduction of new crude supplies. Loss of the pipeline will immediately curtail one-third of AlaskaÂ’s economy and up to ninety percent of the StateÂ’s operating budget. The most prospective source of new supply is the Chukchi. Our OCS likely contains twice as much oil as has been produced from Prudhoe Bay and over five times our proven natural gas reserves which already exceed AmericaÂ’s natural gas demand for nearly two years. Accessing OCS oil and gas will provide increased income taxes and royalties to the federal government and enable dwindling volumes of existing production to continue moving down the pipeline, supporting a third of AlaskaÂ’s natural resource dependent economy. Accordingly, the decision to expedite the stalled Chukchi exploration program could save or doom AlaskaÂ’s economy within the next 5-7 years. We could speculate on the effect of your Lease Sale 193 decisions on national security, the balance of payments deficit and the export of hundreds of thousands of oil and gas jobs to parts of the world where regulation is less secure than here. Barring our OCS work in Alaska would also cause additional environmental risks by causing more ocean going tankers to travel across big oceans to exchange foreign crude oil for our money and our jobs. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #4 Congress and the President are slitting the throats of Americans on the installment plan. As Designed. Its my understanding that the area they want to drill is a very small area of ANWR right? And its my understanding that the pipeline, instead of a bane to the environment has been a boon. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-11-30 22:06 |
| #3 AP: Have you seen the part of ANWR they want to drill? It is rocky and desolate *nothing*. Almost no critters there, not scenic at all. Yet when the opponents talk about drilling them, they show pictures of Denali and lots of wildlife. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-11-30 21:44 |
| #2 This has been a great concern of mine for years. You can see the trend. Senator Stevens worked unceasingly for 2 decades to get ANWR opened up, but to no avail. The Congress thinks that Alaska is a national park or monument, same with some western states. Alaska is screwed and so are western states, and every year puts us worse in the red with respect to oil imports. Yes there are risks, but the depths are in the order of 200 ft or so, not thousands of feet underwater like the Gulf. Congress and the President are slitting the throats of Americans on the installment plan. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-11-30 21:22 |
| #1 but Leesa Murkowitz said she had so much power, that's why they need her in the Senate... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-11-30 18:48 |