Posted on 06/17/2005 6:28:21 AM PDT by thackney
Anchorage, Alaska - A dozen members of the National League of Cities are back in Anchorage after a marathon journey to the North Slope.
Those representatives are from cities like Chicago, which would be at the receiving end of a proposed $20 billion gas pipeline through Canada. And they seemed impressed by what they saw.
Anchorage officials say that’s important because, when the league members return home, they’ll be in a position to influence national policy.
The building of a natural gas pipeline to Chicago, as well as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, are projects that depend heavily on the opinions of people living outside of Alaska.
The group that visited the North Slope on Thursday seemed to come away with the notion that Alaska is doing a good, environmentally responsible job when it comes to energy development.
“It was really quite an impressive trip,” said Chicago Alderman Joe Moore (left). “It was very interesting to see the steps that they’ve undertaken to protect the environment.”
Moore can’t say that he’s sold on the pipeline, nor on oil and gas drilling in ANWR. But he and others on the trip said they were impressed with the care that North Slope producers take with the environment.
“I think we really need to take a serious look at this,” Moore said. “I haven’t formed a final opinion yet.”
“I think what we’ve seen is a good model -- and it’s a really balanced model -- for what we can do in terms of getting resources and, at the same time, being able to effectively deal with the environment,” said Mary Hamann-Roland, mayor of Apple Valley, Minn.
Not every Alaskan, of course, thinks development of ANWR is a good idea. The Gwich’in Indians who live in the refuge are afraid that the caribou on which they depend will be driven out of the area. “What are we going to have for our children in the end?” asked Gwich’in elder Sarah James at a discussion of ANWR last February.
The Anchorage Assembly, however, is in favor of drilling in ANWR. “With the safety controls we’ve got on the North Slope, there’s no reason that oil and gas cannot come out of there and benefit this country,” said Assemblyman Dick Traini.
While on their trip to Alaska, some league members also visited BP’s multi-million-dollar North Slope operations control room in Midtown Anchorage. “It’s cheaper and more efficient to operate if you don’t have to send everybody up to the remote site,” a technician told the group.
The visiting city officials were very impressed with the high-tech communications system they saw.
“All of us are public officials and we’re looking for ways in which technology affects not only the way we do business, but our local economies,” said Mayor Ted Ellis of Bluffton, Ind. “And this has been a great day and a great learning experience.”
Other league representatives attended the dedication of Anchorage’s new, $2.4 million Emergency Operations Center. The center is named after the late Assemblyman Joe Murdy, who even before Sept. 11, saw that emergency responders -- police, firefighters and paramedics -- should be able to speak to each other on common radio frequencies.
The new EOC can handle a 150-member staff 24 hours a day for three shifts for seven days straight.
Even though most of the National League of Cities members weren’t ready to pledge support for Alaska’s energy-development projects, Anchorage officials feel the trip was useful in many ways. At the very least, it opened some eyes by demonstrating how new technology is making oil and gas production safer for the environment.
Previous article about the National League of Cities meeting in Anchorage.
http://www.ktuu.com/CMS/templates/alaska_news/master.asp?articleid=13831&zoneid=4
ConocoPhillips: Gas line 'moving along'
By DIANA CAMPBELL, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Staff Writer
A producer-owned Alaska natural gas pipeline is as close to happening as it's ever been, but there is still a long way to go, said Joe Marushack, the vice president of Alaska North Slope Development for ConocoPhillips Alaska.
Still, the first gas could be flowing within 9 to 10 years, he said.
"This project is moving along," Marushack said at a lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Fairbanks on Thursday at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel.
As an indicator, Marushack said the state and the producers have moved beyond general concepts and are now passing back and forth documents outlining specifics.
"These are detailed documents capable of being signed," he said.
ConocoPhillips, along with ExxonMobil and BP Alaska, is one of three groups vying for a deal with the state to bring North Slope gas to market.
The group would like to build a gas pipeline to Canada, following much of the general route of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, except the gas line would go east at Delta Junction to the Alaska border and then into Canada.
The gas would then head to Midwest markets through Chicago.
TransCanada, a Canadian pipeline company, proposes the same idea but wants to build the Canadian portion of the route. The third group in discussions with the state is the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, which proposes an all-Alaska route from the North Slope to Valdez, where gas would then be liquefied and shipped by tanker to the West Coast.
After gaining state and legislative approval, the producers would likely spend $1 billion seeking government permits and settling indigenous land claims and other issues, ConocoPhillips' Marushack said.
But a project as large as a natural gas pipeline has to have the best people working on it, he said. It's a world-class construction project.
"We cannot artificially accelerate the project," he said.
The ConocoPhillips project would generate 6,500 Alaska jobs with a potential of 4,000 fabrication jobs, he said. That could translate into thousands more indirect jobs.
Further, Fairbanks is ideally situated for another prospect, he said. That is, creation of large-scale Alaska gas exploration and development.
Ryan Colgan, executive administrator for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, also attended the lunch. Colgan said he would have liked to hear ConocoPhillips' views on statements by ExxonMobil President Lee Raymond, who said there wouldn't be an Alaska pipeline without a Canadian pipeline.
Producers face several monumental issues in Canada, including land claims settlements with First Nations, he said.
"Then (I would have liked) a discussion about all three producers' plans for LNG from their foreign gas projects to markets Alaska is competing to serve," Colgan said.
Specifically, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and BP have agreements and plans in place to bring Asian-based gas to the West Coast. They are also closing in on Midwest U.S. markets via the Gulf of Mexico, Colgan said.
Recently the port authority suffered a setback when Sempra Energy pulled out of a partnership with them.
The company has plans to build liquid natural gas processing plants on the West Coast and was holding space for Alaska natural gas. The company cited the state's and producers' disinterest in making a deal with the port authority, calling their dealings with both "protracted political wrestling."
Sempra's absence means that the West Coast is shut off for Alaska gas, Colgan said. And the producers' gas imports to the Gulf of Mexico could dry up Midwestern markets.
But the port authority isn't backing out of talks, Colgan said.
"The port authority's intention all along is to deliver maximum benefit to Alaskans," he said.
Diana Campbell can be reached at 459-7523 or dcampbell@newsminer.com .
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2925825,00.html
Living up here on the Yukon, have gotten to know a few indians from arctic village, venetie, stevens village, ft yukon, and up and down the river. They are all ok, have a different impression after getting to know them than I had developed from Anch media. Good and bad in all villages you know. I think I told ya about the potlatch in old crow when the caribou never showed up and they had to eat hot dogs and everyone got sick. Indians tend to look at us white guys as the underlining cause for most environmental problems, with some reason too.
Anyway, I think if the villages saw jobs coming from development, they'd be very supportive. Biggest problem in nativeland is lack of economic activity, leads to some staying drunk half the time; killing them off as a people. They don't see any jobs coming their way, just importing more workers from lower 48.
Our local chief worked with park service and worked out a deal to employ most of men from village for 10 days down yukon charlie. You should see how happy they are to get some work, earn a paycheck, feel good about themselves for once.
What would it take to employ a dozen men from each village for a couple months each summer? Sure would change some things
Worked up the slope years back like so many Alaskans but wanted to see my kids grow up and didn't want 4-5 marriages so gave it up. Been out Nuiqsut, out the ice road many times; kinda like a 3rd world country because of lack of jobs. Takes a few years and not everyone jumps on bandwagon but better to teach a man how to fish than give him fish forever. No joke, Canadian Govt (yukon) does a better job with their villages than here in alaska. Money is spent creating real jobs rather than grants that indians tend to think of as free money. Natives up in dawson feel they have a bright future while most here in Alaska have given up.
Most the Indians are real good people that just lost about everything they started with due to clash of our cultures.
Got 200 lb seed potatoes in, kings about 2 weeks away, and not as many fires as last summer; life is good.
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