Free Republic

For the 12th time, U.S. Rep. Don Young has gotten legislation passed out of the House of Representatives to authorize opening of a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to resource development. By a 237 to 187 vote, the House today sent H.R. 3408 to the Senate where it faces an uncertain future. Opening ANWR has only made it out of the Senate once, and was vetoed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. “This is a great piece of legislation for the American people,” said Young in a statement released by his office. “Tapping into ANWR’s enormous energy potential...

Gov. Sean Parnell’s goal of nearly doubling the flow of oil through the trans-Alaska pipeline could be achieved over the next 10 to 15 years — but not without major fiscal and policy changes, a consultant said. Pedro van Meurs, an oil and gas consultant, told a joint hearing of the Senate Resources and Finance committees that Parnell’s tax-cut bill “does not even come close” to going far enough to hit the Republican governor’s goal of 1 million barrels a day. He said “more elaborate” legislation is needed if Alaska wants significant increases in production. Reaching Parnell’s goal includes new...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

DAWSON CITY, Yukon - There are a lot of problems that can befall trail markers — treacherous conditions, dangerous overflow, deep snow and trails littered with fallen brush. But an unexpected challenge for the Canadian Rangers who broke the Yukon Quest trail in Canada? Wolves stealing trail markers.

It's the billion-dollar question in Alaska for 2012: Will this be the year Shell Oil begins large-scale offshore exploratory drilling in Arctic waters? Two months into 2012, the oil giant is beyond the lead time it said it needed to assemble the flotilla of support vessels that must accompany drill ships to leases in the remote Chukchi and Beaufort seas. But Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby remains hopeful drilling can begin when Arctic Ocean ice melts this summer, even as he awaits a green light from regulators. "There is clearly more certainty with the regulatory process than we've had...

LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters. As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt. It’s a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that....

Alaska’s Congressional delegation has released their statements over a proposed plan to move a F-16 Aggressor squadron from Eielson Air Force Base to Elmendorf Air Force Base and retire four C-130 transport aircraft at Elmendorf. The move is part of a nationwide defense budget reduction and has left the delegation unhappy. Eielson Air Force Base survived closure in 2005 during a round Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) review. According to the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s most recent Community Research Quarterly, the base employs 1,803 military active duty personnel and 2,871 family members. Here’s the delegation’s full responses. Sen. Lisa...

Oh my, it looks like Sarah Palin might not be speaking at this year’s Republican National Convention. Either that, or she will be the keynoter. The party’s most recent vice-presidential nominee is now officially at war with Mitt Romney and Republican establishment figures—epic losers like Bob Dole and John McCain, epic spinners like Peggy Noonan and Ann Coulter—who have rallied to save the campaign of the fumbling frontrunner. (snip) What’s Palin’s play here? She is not going for a top spot on Mitt Romney’s Christmas-card list. But she may be going for something bigger. By positioning herself as the champion...

(AP) JUNEAU, Alaska — When Alaska state Rep. Kyle Johansen penned a resolution to urge the federal government to take over New York's Central Park, he may not have expected a hearing on the issue let alone a mention in The New York Times. But he got both. The resolution from Johansen, a Ketchikan Republican, first reported by The Associated Press, was highlighted in the Times' City Room blog last week. And Monday afternoon the House Resources Committee discussed HJR 31, which argues the federal government's hold on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is akin to labeling Central Park a...

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent. We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week’s tactics aren’t what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment should stop and...

Alaska Airlines, America's seventh-largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic, said on Wednesday that it would end a decades-old tradition of handing out prayer cards with its in-flight meals. The prayer cards, which the Seattle-based airline began offering in the 1970s after an executive spotted them on another airline, were intended to serve as a marketing strategy and to put passengers at ease, a spokeswoman said. The airline sent an e-mail to its frequent flyers on Wednesday explaining the change, which takes effect February 1.

Sea ice is encroaching unusually early on the central Bering Sea, threatening to grind Alaska's economically important snow crab fishery to a halt at the peak of the season, leaving crabbers facing major losses. Very cold temperatures and strong winds are pushing the ice south at the rate of 10-15 miles a day, according to the National Weather Service. A rate of 2-3 miles a day is normal. The ice itself has a maximum thickness of two feet. Crabbing boats are out retrieving their pots or sitting in Dutch Harbor rather than delivering their catch to the now iced-in Trident...

This month, scientists will test a new way to extract methane from beneath the frozen soil of Alaska: they will use waste carbon dioxide from conventional wells to force out the desired natural gas. The pilot experiment will explore the possibility of ‘mining’ from gas hydrates: cages of water ice that hold molecules of methane. Such hydrates exist under the sea floor and in sandstone deep beneath the Arctic tundra, holding potentially vast reserves of natural gas. But getting the gas out is tricky and expensive. The test is to be run by the US Department of Energy (DOE), in...

The ice-bound town of Nome will likely get its emergency fuel supply this weekend from a Russian tanker that has taken three weeks to get there, as Alaska continues to be battered by one of the state's harshest winters in decades. The tanker Renda arrived just offshore from Nome on Friday with its cargo of fuel for the town, which was cut off from oceangoing supplies by waters that froze earlier than expected. The Russian-flagged tanker vessel Renda followed a trail cut through the ice by the Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Bering Sea Thursday as it headed to...

Somewhere in Alaska, USA. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm (medium, large) The Photographer Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson, United States Air Force  

North Slope oil producers have laid out their vision of what’s possible with new oil development if the state Legislature makes changes in the state’s oil production tax. They’ve also highlighted the problems they face under the status quo. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. President John Minge said he believes there is about $5 billion in projects the producers could tackle if lawmakers pass Gov. Sean Parnell’s House Bill 110 or something like it this year. Many of the projects are within the existing producing fields. Minge also outlined one new project BP is testing this year, in a layer of...

As a Russian fuel tanker plows through the frozen Bering Sea on its way to Nome, it has been getting help from an unlikely source: a drone that flies overhead and sends images of ice back to researchers onshore. The camera-equipped drone looks like a smoke detector with wings and legs. It glides on 20-minute missions ranging from 10 feet to 320 feet above the ice, and its images can be instantly viewed on a tablet-type computer screen. The tanker is bound for Nome, a town of 3,500 residents that missed its final pre-winter delivery of fuel by barge when...

An Alaska community blitzed by nearly 15 feet of snow was hit by another storm Tuesday and a new problem -- a shortage of shovels. A spokesman for the city of Cordova said officials had tried Anchorage, Fairbanks and other cities and finally turned to a manufacturer for a special order. "It's ironic, isn't it? The state of Alaska -- you'd think they'd be ahead of the game. It's those logistical things you just don't plan on, or you don't think is going to be an issue," said Allen Marquette by phone from the city on the east side of...

Sarah Palin’s husband is endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, Todd Palin told ABC News today. But Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and John McCain’s 2008 Republican running mate, has yet to decide “who is best able to go up against Barack Obama,” Todd Palin said. Palin said he has not spoken to Gingrich or anyone from the former House speaker’s campaign. But he said he respects Gingrich for what he went through in the 1990s and compared that scrutiny in public life to what Sarah Palin went through during her run for the vice presidency.

A Russian tanker is inching through thick ice in the Bering Sea en route to delivering fuel to Nome. The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy is cutting a path for the 370-foot Renda, which is carrying more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class David Mosley said the vessels were 170 miles south of Nome as of late Sunday morning. Mosley said the ships are able to travel only five miles an hour through ice up to two feet thick. The Coast Guard initially estimated arrival time early Monday, but Mosley says it's difficult to...

CORDOVA, Alaska— Cordova declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon following several weeks of heavy snowfall, after at least three structures -- two commercial buildings and a home -- had their roofs collapsed by snow. DOT is sending five additional people from across the state to help clear the town’s roads. Meanwhile, National Weather Service officials said Thursday Valdez had 289.01 inches of snow this season -- and winter has just begun. Valdez resident Kevin Kimber said he had to crawl out of his upstairs window to get out of the house. “I woke up to have about 10 feet...

An ice-breaking Russian tanker won an exemption from U.S. maritime law on Friday allowing it to deliver fuel to the isolated Alaska city of Nome... The U.S. Department of Homeland Security granted a Jones Act waiver to the Russian ship, the Renda, which is scheduled to deliver diesel fuel and gasoline to the Alaska city of 3,600 people... Senator Mark Begich said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano responded to pleas for a Jones Act exception to help alleviate what could be a serious winter fuel shortage. ... Nome, which has no outside road connections and relies on marine vessels or...

Palin: It's Not Bachmann's Time

(12-29) 10:57 PST Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- A remote Alaska volcano has spewed an ash cloud 15,000 feet into the air. The Alaska Volcano Observatory says satellite images show the ash cloud drifting Thursday from Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/29/national/a105700S84.DTL#ixzz1hzDgWa5D

Experts not sure if woes, from hair loss to bloody lesions, tied to Fukushima nuclear plant. SEATTLE — Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether local seals are being sickened by radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Scores of ring seals have washed up on Alaska's Arctic coastline since July, suffering or killed by a mysterious disease marked by bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on the animals' fur coats. Biologists at first thought the seals were suffering from a virus...

It’s across the Colville and into the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for ConocoPhillips Alaska — at last. A bridge crossing of the Nigliq Channel of the Colville River was the preferred alternative in the 2004 final environmental impact statement for Alpine satellite development, but it took years for the company to get alignment from the North Slope Borough, the adjacent community of Nuiqsut and major federal agencies. It came together Dec. 19 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit for CD-5, the Alpine satellite which will be the first development built in NPR-A. “ConocoPhillips is pleased that the...

Young abided by letter of law; spirit of law takes a beating The House Ethics Committee has ruled that Alaska Rep. Don Young didn't violate the law in accepting 12 checks totaling $60,000 for his legal defense fund from 12 businesses owned by one family. As the committee pointed out, the companies are technically 12 separate entities in Louisiana, but they represent exactly one political interest.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved a bridge-and-road project that will give ConocoPhillips access to the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s North Slope, the federal agency announced today. The Clean Water Act permit gives ConocoPhillips the go-ahead for its CD-5 Alpine Satellite Development Project. The oil company has long sought to drill and develop the area and needed the permits to build infrastructure connecting CD-5 to existing pipelines. The thumbs-up concludes a yearlong federal review and follows approvals earlier this month by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The permit allows Houston-based ConocoPhillips...

In Fox Business Network interview, ex-Alaska Guv plays coy on whether she's still mulling a presidential bid. Palin: "It's not too late for folks to jump in. Who knows what will happen in the future."

Two federal agencies have reached an agreement with ConocoPhillips Alaska that moves the company closer to building the first bridge and pipeline over the Colville River on Alaska's North Slope. The company wants access across the Arctic river to reach leases within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Oil pumped from the leases would be the first production within the vast reserve. The Army Corps of Engineers in February 2010 denied a permit for the bridge and said a buried pipe would be less environmentally damaging. ConocoPhillips appealed, and the Corps sought a review of the project by the Environmental Protection Agency...

Standing in front of a brightly coloured, 3-D image of the geology far below the floor of the Chukchi Sea, Steve Phelps pointed to the “giant opportunity” that has prompted Shell to pour billions of dollars into the Alaska Arctic. “Burger — that’s the name you are going to get to know,” Phelps recently told reporters gathered here to learn about the huge oil company’s plans and promises for Alaska. Phelps is Shell’s Alaska exploration manager, a geologist whose job it is to find big oil. The Burger field, part of a Shell naming theme that revolved around junk food,...

The Alaska Senate is about to enter a bruising debate over whether to slash how much Alaska taxes oil companies, with Senate President Gary Stevens calling the governor's tax cut plan a giveaway that could cost the state billions with little in return. "We have been asking the administration (of Gov. Sean Parnell) for months to give us some proof this will do Alaska some good," Stevens said last week. It's a debate likely to dominate the 90-day session of the Alaska Legislature that begins in Juneau on Jan. 17. The state House has already passed the governor's bill so...

state budget, released Thursday along with state revenue and oil production forecasts, reflect some disturbing trends: less revenue, higher costs and trouble ahead. The budget proposal shows the kinds of forces driving the state operating budget ever upward, like increases in Medicaid, state employee contracts and a new prison. ... On the revenue side, we see continued declines in oil production in a state where oil revenues pay for 90 percent of the budget. There is a good reason to believe the state's production forecast is actually a tad optimistic: It includes new oil projects still being evaluated. If some...

An Anchorage grand jury indicted two people in connection with a home invasion robbery that ended in the death of two people. The robbery occurred shortly after midnight on November 10 at the 700 block of Muldoon Road. APD's investigation revealed the criminals burst into a trailer, pistol-whipped a resident in the face, and demanded money and drugs. The victim grabbed a gun and shot two of the three robbers, who died. The third got away, as did the getaway driver. They're identified as Brian Albert Pfister and Ursula Pico, respectively. On Thursday, December 15, the grand jury returned an...

The Alaska Department of Revenue’s fall forecast, released Dec. 15 as Petroleum News was going to press with this issue, shows a sharp decrease in forecast production compared to the spring forecast, with Alaska North Slope crude oil volumes dropping below 600,000 barrels per day beginning in the current fiscal year, 2012. In the spring forecast, Revenue was projecting production of more than 600,000 bpd through fiscal year 2017. Production is projected to average 574,000 bpd for FY 2012, dropping below the 500,000 bpd mark in FY 2020. In his cover letter to the governor, Revenue Commissioner Bryan Butcher said...

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

An alleged robber and getaway driver are now charged with manslaughter after a homeowner killed their accomplices, police say. The trouble began Nov. 10, when three people entered a trailer on the 700 block of Muldoon Road, demanding money and drugs, according to police. The man inside shot and killed two of the 19-year-old robbers, police say. Now the alleged accomplices of the two men shot and killed face charges for both the robbery and the deaths. The robbers believed there was a marijuana grow at the trailer, the indictment says.

Sarah Palin Fails To Find Buyer For Latest TV Show Sarah Palin has so far failed to find a buyer for her latest television show idea in a further sign that her star is on the wane. In the last few years Sarah Palin has made millions of dollars from two books and numerous public appearances By Nick Allen 13 Dec 2011 The former Republican vice presidential candidate's new proposed foray into reality TV would focus on her husband Todd's career as a champion snowmobile racer. It would be a follow up to "Sarah Palin's Alaska," an eight-part travelogue which...

Sarah Palin is interested in starring in a second reality TV series, according to a report Monday. The new series Palin and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are shopping to various networks would be focused on Palin’s husband Todd and his career as a championship snowmobile racer, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

A roadblock to development of ConocoPhillips’ CD-5 drill site in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska has been removed. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, which had opposed the company’s plan to put the crude oil pipeline from CD-5 to the company’s Alpine production facilities on a bridge to be built across the Nigliq Channel of the Colville River, have reached “an agreement in principle” with the company on the proposal. In a Dec. 5 announcement the U.S. Department of the Interior said the agreement fulfills a request from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the...

Anchorage, AK --(Ammoland.com)- On April 17, when Governor Sean Parnell adjourned the Alaska Legislature, there were four pro-gun bills left pending from the 2011 legislative session. Due to Alaska’s two-year sessions, all pending 2011 bills will carry over and be considered in 2012. * House Bill 80, sponsored by state Representative Mark Neuman (R-15), is a no-duty-to-retreat bill and would extend the right to use force, including deadly force, for self-defense anywhere a person has a legal right to be. HB 80 passed in the state House by a 33 to 6 vote. This bill is now pending in the...

FAIRBANKS - An associate of Fairbanks militia-leader Schaeffer Cox will appear in court for the first time today since the FBI took him into custody Tuesday afternoon on a material witness warrant. Michael O. Anderson, 35, does not face any criminal charges, but prosecutors say he is an important witness in the investigation into Cox and needed to be detained because he was allegedly avoiding a subpoena. Anderson spent more than six months in jail this year after he was arrested with Cox and three others and accused in state court of planning to kill Alaska State Troopers and court...

At least two wolves chased down and killed a teacher who was jogging on a road last year outside a rural Alaska village, according to a report released Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Anchorage—The Bureau of Land Management announced today that the Detailed Statement of Sale for the Dec. 7 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) oil and gas lease sale is available at http://www.blm.gov/ak. The BLM will open sealed bids for the lease sale on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011, at 1 p.m. at the Anchorage Federal Building, Denali Room, 222 W 7th Ave., Anchorage, AK. Sealed bids must be received by 4:00 p.m., Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 at the BLM-Alaska State Office. The BLM will offer 283 tracts comprising approximately 3,060,176 acres in this sale. Additional details on the sale are available in today’s...

The iced-in city of Nome on Alaska's western coast may be in luck: A Russian tanker that can plow through thick ice will try to deliver 1.5 million gallons of home heating fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel after a massive storm kept a barge from getting in before winter.

More than a year had passed since the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crash off Washington state killed three of Lt. Lance Leone's colleagues. The sole survivor and co-pilot, Leone had recovered from his injuries and been cleared, his father said, for flight re-training. But that never happened. Instead, Leone was charged with negligent homicide and other violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in connection with the July 2010 accident.

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney announced Friday that he has earned the endorsement of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, considered by many conservatives to be a RINO. The following statement was released by the Romney camp: “I am proud to announce the support of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski,” said Mitt Romney. “I look forward to working with her to expand Alaska’s energy production, bring jobs back to the state, and help get our country on the right track again.”

Maine’s congressional delegation is supporting Gov. Paul LePage’s request seeking a federal fisheries disaster declaration to provide aid to Maine’s groundfishing fleet. ... His request followed a recent report documenting a sharp decline in Maine’s fishing fleet due to changes in federal fishery management plans.

The groan is almost audible coming from dormitory rooms at UAA. The university is intentionally slowing the speed of Internet connections in all on- campus dorm rooms to prevent students from infringing on copyrights when downloading movies, music and videos, a move first reported by UAA's student newspaper, The Northern Light.

When is someone going to search for a rugged, outdoorsy general aviation pilot to play a part in a TV reality show? Someone has. You may be just the pilot the casting crew is looking for—and with apologies to The Beatles, all you’d have to do is act naturally. You might even get to fly an airplane on TV. The call has gone out to cast a bush pilot—loosely defined—to become one of 12 people who will be brought together “in a remote area of Alaska,” where they will rely on their own resourcefulness while collectively building a homestead in...