Do you think the state should stick with former Gov. Sarah Palin’s natural gas line plan?
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October 26th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Oil prices are going up. We can afford to stick with this a little longer until it fails.
Best we drag it out a couple years anyway so it crashes and burns while Palin’s in campaign mode again.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:30 am
It’s DOA.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:38 am
DOA… just like Palin
October 26th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I think we should stick with Palin’s plan. The state needs control to some degree of the gas in that pipeline. Those big international petroleum companies have been ripping us off all along with the oil. Let’s don’t allow them to do it to us again with the gas. The amount of negative stories most likely implemented by big oil points out to me how much the big oil companies don’t want her plan to go forth.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Should we stick with our resigned governor’s plan? Why should we? She didn’t.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
The producers – Conoco, BP and Exxon – have the money and they have the gas. No matter how much we pay TransCanada it will never have any NS gas nor will it have much money. We can pay TC $500 million to be a go-between for us in dealing with the producers but that makes no sense (although it’s exactly what AGIA does and all it does).
Producer executives have a fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders to obtain the highest financial return. For Alaska that means they wait until we have cut the school foundation program, begun an internal food fight over new broad based taxes, eliminated superfluous fluff like the Marine Highway System, etc. Then they will have us over a barrel and state government will give them the fiscal certainty they need in order to risk their stockholders’ money. Who knows what the outlook for natural gas will be at that time?
Avoiding this future would take a game-changing move such as suspending the PFD and pledging the PF corpus to secure financiers of a gas line independent of the producers taking the risk. AGIA requires the producers to take all the risk but have no assurance of reward, something that will not happen. Possibly Obama could force them to do that, and that would be an alternative game-changing move. I see little chance of a game-changing occurrence.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:22 am
She is pretty.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Is this guy part of the same administrations that missed billions of dollars in unpaid taxes by the oil companies? Taxes that Gov. Hickel had to come back to office and collect for the state? I don’t trust this economist any more than I trust Murkowski.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Palin is a failure and so is her gas plan. Have any of you seen her interviews? She has no idea what she is talking about most of the time. I find it difficult to trust anythign coming from her.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Greenie convention here, eh?
October 28th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
YOU BETCHA!! I agree with JAM!!! You got that right!!!
October 28th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I think we should wait until Sarah’s book comes out and see if it contains any gems of wisdom on this topic.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Gov. Palin never understood AGIA but her people, refugees from the Murkowski administration, do. The independent pipeline is our best shot of avoiding garand’s nightmare scenario. TransCanada will use our money to do five years worth of permitting and engineering and make the pipeline that much closer to reality. Once its permitted, its very hard for the producers to say no when they have a duty to develop OUR resources under the terms of their leases.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Oil prices may have surged, but natural gas prices have gone WAY DOWN. At this point in time would the better idea be to leave development of the pipline alone and look to the LNG process. Liquifying natural gas for local consumption could move Alaska away from the fuel oil heating that is so polluting, to much cleaner gas. At the same time the environment for a multi bazillion dollar pipeline has weakened in this economy. LNG may not be the choice of the multinational companies that want and need to peddle Canadian gas. Somehow Alaska needs to be FIRST in line for the use of its oil and gas at DISCOUNT prices….not shipped down South, refined and sent back to Alaska at staggeringly high prices. Kind of like the timber from the Tongass NF. Why sell raw logs at bargain basement prices to corporate interests and send the finished product back to Alaska at inflated prices. Remember when there were mills in Alaska? Remember the decent paying jobs? So looping back to natural gas. I say that LNG processing facilities/shipment facilities/local delivery facilities should be the first focus for that natural resourse. As for the pipeline jobs, since the bulk of the pipeline would be in Canada, the jobs would be mostly for Canadians.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Agia needs to be scrapped. The last holdup in the ratification of the plan was that the Democrats had to ensure that there would be “Bargaining.” What a diaper full that is.
Labor unions in the SOA have guaranteed that no one in the ‘brotherhood’ will be charged with any crime. Just look at Wooten. who probably should have been convicted of a game violation.
And then there is that thing called representation which does not exist. Jim Duncan even signed an agreement with the Murkowski Admin. guaranteeing that he would only take the [their] money, but he would not represent any members. Whose bargain is it? Certainly not the 8000 pockets he picks every paycheck.
And then there are those who insisten on “Bargaining” in the legislature. One who receives donations from Jim, is a Republican (interesting) and who runs unopposed (What does she need money for?).
I think it’s about buying influence more than labor myself. Scrap AGIA before they export this stinky business called “Bargaining.”
October 30th, 2009 at 8:31 am
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. Think about it.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I’m tired of anything that has her name attached to it. Can we move on to something else? I think we should stick with it. We won’t know for sure if this will work out because TransCanada hasn’t done shiznick. Besides, we won’t see anything for another 10-20 years.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Is there A CHANCE to get the five bucks back from the Canadians if we scrap it, or do I have to do something in the Ninth Circuit first? Maybe a late motion for reconsideration. I know 45 days has passed but…not your ordinary stuff has been going on with the DOJ and Alaska. After all Bruce is still going through appeals. I put together a page of business cards of some of the Legislators who got the writ. Seems like TERRY should have done a better effort and called Bruce’s attention to it. Oh well maybe next time one of the SOA employees who has been treated like garbage puts a 140 page writ on a Legislator’s Desk they’ll know better.
I just hate undue influence on the Legislature. Especially the pretend BA’s backstab and HR goons put the laser dot on your forehead for stuff they know is wrong.
Does everyone want me to Kill Agia Dead? I’ve been thinking about it…
October 31st, 2009 at 1:06 am
Mongoose? Don Y? Your briefness becomes obscure.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:38 am
I don’t know or understand all of the details of the AGIA. I do know that Alaska is in desperate need for cheaper energy. Alaska must get access to the gas for its own use. All of Alaska needs to be able to take advantage of cheaper heat that can be provided by natural gas. Energy costs are one of the largest expensives that holds back the development of business in Alaska.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I think the Juneau Empire should write more in-depth, unbiased stories about what it means to go along with the plan, or not to. I know I could use more education on the topic. I could go find more information from either side, but it’s hard to know truth from fiction when you’re “listening” to people with agendas.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Why would we go along with anything she was involved in?? What a failure she turned out to be. A one-hit wonder, I hope.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:06 am
Sarah Palin was shooting center when she showed us that the oil companies are running this state and have to be reigned in. We will all know that Palin was correct when we see the oil companies truck out their lawyers and try another end run; Unless the current governor sells out in which case the foxes are already inside the wire. I think we should hire Palin to see this thing through.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am
Gas development in the lower 48 “bellies” selling our gas there. Ask yourself who in “their right mind” would finance a multi-billion dollar “white elephant” project? “DUH!”
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
She Will Be Your Next President!!!!
Not even a month ago, it way only $2.93 a gallon.
As the price of gas goes up, so will everthing else.
Still want to talk and pay tax???!!!
Hurry Up.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Who’s Sarah ! Oh yeah she’s that gal that was almost was gov. right ?
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Is the gang at the Vampire too stoned to put up a new topic? I have one–What do you think of the price of bananas in Bangladesh?
November 4th, 2009 at 5:24 am
The bananas are cheap, but starting to decay on the inside. Like Sarah Palin.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:09 am
No; since Exxon signed on board in Canada to build the pipeline I think it should be scuttled. Why reward the oil spill business?
Scientific American in November 2009 published an article–the headline article–about transforming the world energy economy within 30 years to an entirely non-fossil fuel foundation. So why should Alaskan–notoriously corrupt politically, with reliance upon trans-national oil corporations for it’s state government budget continue to tramp on the environment with continental scale pipelines and such maladroit policies?
Unwilling to invest in coastal wind generators to provide back-up power to S.E. towns, the Alaska legislature perhaps listens to the NPR Kow Tow report as inspiration. China at least just invested a billion and a half in a 36,000 West Texas wind farm to power 180,000 homes. Chinese banks are financing the project that is. Alaska could probably build a billion dollars worth of wind generators and also invest in super-conductor power line research to find some way to send power to Chicago. It is certain that those with comfortable state jobs don’t want to do anything different. With VECO gone, some state politicians will need to find some other way to increase their off-line residuals as well.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
,So why should Alaskan–notoriously corrupt politically, with reliance upon trans-national oil corporations for it’s state government budget continue to tramp on the environment with continental scale pipelines and such maladroit policies?
Cooking the Alaberta Tar Sands with Alaska’s NG to make gasoline. It will be environmentally more messy, and extremely inefficient but we keep the gas stations instead of LNG distribution systems. That’s what the big 3 want. $500 million of Alaska’s money is bet on it.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:30 am
While I don’t like being tied to the rest of Alaska’s time zone, I can see the logic to staying with Alaska Daylight Time with a twist. Next spring after we’ve set our clocks ahead an hour, let’s just let them remain there. Then next fall we’d have an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon. Yes, we’d have an extra hour of darkness in trade – unfortunately we can’t change the physical world.
Then in the afternoon our kids would be coming home in relative daylight. As it is now, it will be dark pretty soon when they leave for school and dark when they return. The trade-off seems pretty good to me. At least there will be a period of daylight for the kids during part of the school day.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Er, well, I thought I was posting this to an older post. Sorry for being inadvertently off-topic.
With regard to the subject at hand. We’re committed to the bucks, but I’d otherwise say trash it!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Solar does not work here I have tried it and there is not enough light because of the rain. Hydro power should work great here. Especially since the Navy has found a way to remove the damaging salt from the ocean to create good water for hydro power. There is not enough wind power here since most of our winds come in the fall and winter. I truly think that Alaska should become its own country and start its own power plants and send some of our products to everyone else. We should be the engineers of power. We have so much natural resources here that we could sustain a great economy and sell our product to other countries. Obama does not like Alaska anyway nor do any of his crony advisers and czars. It is time to show THose people in the lower 48 that we are the place for everything that they need down south. Because it is getting over crowded they are loosing farm land, natural resources, and room for to sustain needs of everyone there. Developement is more important to these people down south then protecting important things like farm land, nature, and natural resources. We are going broke down there because we have nothing to sell to the world any more.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am
This plan was vetted and approved by the Legislature at a lot of State expense. I say just because you don’t like Sarah is no reason to discount the things she accomplished as governor – while she was in office that short time before she QUIT
November 16th, 2009 at 8:34 am
This was a politcal football that kicked around the legislature for two administrations. The plan is feasable, and was approved by the legislature. With it comes the construction jobs, administrative jobs, and later, revenue to the state. So stop the political cat fighting and get it done.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Could any of us afford half a million to fight for what we believe in?
What Sara did was far beyond what any other governor has done for Alaska in many years.
Fighting the oil companies and our own government put her family in the middle of the battle/
IF you can not see this then you need to go back to the lower forty eight.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I think they should re think the bidding process to build again, and this time, i think Alaskans should become partners with either China or Russia to help build our gas pipeline. i heard on the news in the latter part of the week America should be pairing up more with china or russia in business partnership. Alaskan administrative government can speed along that process by becoming partners is either russia or china to build our gas pipeline.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Basically, I think AGIA should be re looked at agian build upon it even critique it that shapes AGIA to be EVEN more for the regular people of alaska who make less than 80,000 dollars annually. Plus i think we should use the opportunity of building the alaska gasline to open up the door of partnership with our next door neighbor Russia and Canada as partners and even consider China as a partner. on of the three. particularly thinking about either russia or china since china holds 2/3 of our national debt and russia is a strong political ally to china.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I have to laugh at how stupid people are. The pipeline could bring a cheap source of natural gas to a failing economy, but since it was proposed by Governor Palin, it should be left to fail. Man are you people stupid. Cut off your nose to spite your face.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
did anyone else notice our former leader holding her INFANT son on her lap during the interview with the BUS moving… no carseat… no nothing.. thats a report of harm if I ever saw one LIVE on tv… someone needs to call OCS like they did with Britney Spears and her son on her lap too… this one is caught on TV…
November 25th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
yeah right! then all the mommas and papas with children under five who ride captial transit and taxi’s should have been reported long time ago. Public buses and taxi’s don’t carry car seats, and what type of parent wants to lug around a car seat plus child because they ride the bus or take a taxi.
November 25th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I noticed how “dark” and “mean” people look when they spew their pessimism directed at Palin. I noticed how good and nice and real those people appear who respectfully tolerate Palin and those people who believe in Palin.
November 26th, 2009 at 6:15 am
This blog’s been up here long enough, can we PLEASE talk about something else ! SCREW Sarah.
November 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Ditto!
November 27th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
tigger.. that WASNT a public bus she was on.. look again.. it was a camper diesel pusher…. they have seats for car seats and since her son is about a yr or so.. he/she isnt exempt from using it like the rest of the law abiding ppl
November 28th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
She is such a stupid twit that all the stupid morons that reelected bush would happily vote her into office. The downward slide of the US continues…..
November 29th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I wonder if everyone understands the realities of stranded NS natural gas? The State of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission regularly testifies that the producers are using natural gas at its highest and best use today by injecting it into oil wells to extract more oil. So the producers are fulfilling their contractual responsibilities today, and any court would agree. That’s why the rhetoric about penalizing the producers never amounts to anything.
Pat Forgey and others continue to miss what I think is a key factor. The producers must sign on to take all the risk or else there is no gas line. The risks are the risk of low prices (such as current prices), failure to complete the line (so no gas is shipped but the producers would need to pay anyway), and gas line construction cost overruns (such as experienced with TAPS). Some entity or combination of entities needs to have $40 billion and agree to risk it.
Exxon has alway said that they want a gas line; build one and they will ship their gas they say. That doesn’t work because there is no deep pocket to take the risk unless Exxon and the smaller producers sign the take-or-pay contracts. I would vote to use the Permanent Fund to build the line (guaranty the debt) but it would require suspension of the PFD and therefore I doubt the idea would garner adequate support.
Sarah Palin probably didn’t understand much about the gas line, and her advisors thought that NS natural gas is wildly profitable (despite what the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, which once employed Palin, believe). But she didn’t have to understand it because the voters didn’t understand it, and perhaps still do not. She had to run against Frank Murkowski who did understand it but who frittered away his credibility with high spending and a cheap jet, and Tony Knowles who has always had his hand in the producers’ pockets. Palin offered change and won by a landslide, and I have to admit that despite everything she did a much better job as a government executive than Obama is doing.
The NS natural gas pipeline will die a quiet death immediately after the 2010 election season exhausts it’s one remaining utility. The Railbelt will be able to obtain NS natural gas just as soon as its population reaches 6 million (according to state studies done in this decade which have now been forgotten).
November 30th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
OMG! Garand says: “despite everything she did a much better job as a government executive than Obama is doing”.
You must mean she was a ’sterotypical bureaucrat’ as opposed to actually working for a living. She only went to work 5 hours a day (when she left her home), was collecting per diem while at home, was constantly on her private email and Blackberry (while not using the State email system), and was flying her kids around the country on the taxpayers dime whenever she could.
As for AGIA, any credit or blame on AGIA can be shared with the DNR folks as well as Palin, although she has plausable deniability, as she had no idea what they were talking about.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:11 am
Did anybody out there actually read her book?
January 25th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Not until they can figure out how to prevent the OIL pipeline from constantly spilling, otherwise we’d be contributing to two separate environmental disasters (oil and gas).
Too, another pipeline means another target for terrorism.
I say, “Keep truckers in business, truck the fuels.”
January 25th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
It wasn’t her book, she had a ghost writer.