Under ACES, Ak has put away 15 billion over the last 3-4 years. My state legislator told me the tax figure was 62% and he was leaning on voting for it. The problem is there are no guarantees on development even with the tax reduction. Did the feds give oil any tax reduction? Of course not. They are setting tax policy for 10 years down the road. I believe most Alaskans think oil will be $150/barrel pretty quick and any tax reduction will cost Ak over 2 billion/ year in revenues.
Bottomline, the Senate isn't buying into the tax reduction and I heard from my Senator and read in the paper that this is the truth.
The oil is owned by the people & state of Alaska. I think most Alaskans believe somebody somewheres will want the oil still in the ground someday, maybe it will be when it is 200/barrel. Leave it sit until that day gets here.
In the Senate, even the Repubs ain't buying this new tax reduction. No offense, the oil is a resource that funds Ak govt; not a give away to be fuel govt corruption. Palin did the right thing, parnell is unelectable and will cause a dem to be our nx Ak governor. What a crook and a shame. He's a shill for big oil and nothing else and you will honestly find most Alaskans feel that way about the issue.
One of the sources of information for after ACES is the number of workers and dollars immediately after it was implemented.
Most major Alaska North Slope projects takes 4~5 years to put in place at the quickest pace. I'm talking about best case from the decision to spend money to time it is flowing oil. Some projects take even longer.
Most of that time is due to the weather. Most major projects require module fabrication to build in Anchorage or outside. Shipping of the large modules must be scheduled with the winter travel permits for heavy loads.
The reality is, regardless of who wants to believe it, projects that were substantially underway continued. If equipment was ordered and prefabrication begun it was finished with construction being completed the following year on the slope. So the following year there were quite a few hands working and big dollars spent as construction has most of a project cost.
But the engineering and planning for new projects and projects being considered was mostly shut down. That was the side I was on. I saw the immediate impact because I worked on the front end. The engineers and designers working new projects was drastically cut. At some places by 2/3 or more. And I keep in contact with a couple folks in that still. It has barely picked up with the rising oil price of the last year.
Until they get more competitive with other areas, Alaska is going to see little investment. ConocoPhillips, BP, Anadarko, ExxonMobil are working in Canada, Oil Shale, Brazil and other places. It is hard to justify $5 billion dollar project in Alaska that would have half the return the same money spent in the Eagle Ford Shale or offshore Brazil.
Personally, now that I work outside of Alaska, I probably benefit directly from their high taxes for the work load now in Texas. It is becoming a busy time again, especially considering the Natural Gas work from Shale. So I don't push this issue for my own gain. 5 years ago someone could make that argument for me but not today.
There's a name for that system.