Quite improper actions by Palin, IMO.
being good stewart of public asset, the action was totally proper. The oil companies have way too much control of the government. Giving them sweet deals. From lower taxes than anyone else, to public funded joint projects. Palin came in and broke the monopoly and removed the public funding of projects forcing the oil companies to raise their own capital
It's not a simple situation. All of the primary lease terms at Point Thompson had expired. The leases had been unitized by the State which action prolonged the leases. Subsequently the state declared the unitization terminated thus effectively ending the leases. An issue arose about whether old wells held the unitization together.
In the latest developement an Alaskan superior court judge has sided with Exxon Mobil and its partners saying they did not get a fair hearing from the Alaska DNR.I would anticipate that the State will appeal.
The Alaska DNR summary of their case can be found at the ref below. Alaska State Brief
A summary of the events from Petroleum News : See here
That’s interesting. Exxon leased the land containing natural gas from Alaska. The gas is Alaska’s property. Alaska expected Exxon to extract the gas and bring it to market. Alaska expected to get a percent of the take which it would redistribute to Alaskans. This has been happening for years with oil in that state. I realize giving the money to its citizens is a revolutionary concept for many of us who live in other states.
Nevertheless, Exxon chose to sit on the lease—probably to keep the gas off the market so more could be charged for gas that was being sold. Of course the other consequence was to keep America dependent on foreign energy.
There has been a very cozy relationship between Alaskan pols (both Demrat and Pubbies) for years. I’m sure there was a game afoot whereby Alaskan pols agreed not to force Exxon to “use it or lose it”. I suspect that some Alaskan pols’ bank accounts were enriched accordingly. If memory serves me some of them went to jail.
What ever the case, Gov. Palin chose to break up the game. She forced a recompete of the contract. A Canadian company, TransCanada, won the lease and is already moving gas to the lower 48.
I would be very interested in hearing what part of that may have been illegal. Also, do you think Alaskans and Americans are benefitting from Gov. Palin’s initiative?