- The GOP primary for lieutenant governor is now a three-way race. There’s Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan. State Sen. Lesil McGuire. And now Kelly Wolf, a former one term Kenai state rep has filed. Some say he was most “infamous” for some of his indecipherable letters that he authored while in office. He also sponsored legislation that would crack down on non-profit lobbying activity. Wolf was an advocate of predator control, and wanted to make it more difficult for nonprofits to try to stop people from shooting wolves from airplanes. Wolfe the wolf killer!
- Speaking of new candidates: Former state Rep. Alan Dick filed a letter of intent to run against Sen. Click Bishop. Last year, the Legislative Ethics Committee fined Dick $18,000 for suspect business conduct while he was a state legislator. The committee found that had a “cavalier mindset” while doing so.
- Cook Inlet Tribal Council will be celebrating 30 years of community service on May 16th from 3:00 – 6:00 pm at their offices located at 3600 San Geronimo Drive, Anchorage.
- Upcoming political fundraisers :
- May 17, 5:00 – 8:00 pm Bill Walker for Governor Family Dance (and Kalua Pork Sandwiches) at the Eagle’s Hall, Valdez.
- May 18, 4:00 – 6:00 pm Anand Dubey for State House Campaign Kick-off Fundraiser
- at the home of Anne Gore and David Hart 3001 Illiamna Avenue, Anchorage.
- May 27, 5:00 – 7:000 pm., House Majority Fundraiser at the Crown Plaza, Anchorage.
- May 28, 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Joint fundraising event for Speaker Mike Chenault and Rep. Mike Hawker at the Petroleum Club of Alaska.
- Congratulations are due to one of my favorite editorial cartoonist. San Francisco based Healthline website has named Anchorage’s Peter Dunlap-Shohl’s blog Frozen Grin as one of the “15 top Parkinson’s blogs in the country.”
- Miller Energy Resources, Inc. announced the acquisition of Savant Alaska LLC for $9 million cash. The primary asset in the deal was Miller obtaining a 67.5 percent working interest in the North Slope Badami Unit. ASRC Exploration LLC has the remaining 32.5 percent partner interest. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
- Ever heard of the Valley’s “Tower of Power”? Well, it has nothing to do with Valley trash, nor of Sarah Palin’s new mega-mansion. Gov. Sean Parnell, not known for his alliterative abilities, used the phrase to describe Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who is like 10 feet tall, at an education bill signing Tuesday.
- On Tuesday, Parnell had an overflowing turnout at a $100 plate luncheon at the Aladin Restaurant. Some of the folks attending included Northrim Bank’s Marc Langland, ASRC’s Tara Sweeney, Petro Star’s Doug Chapados, all five RCA commissioners, DOT Commissioner Pat Kemp, DOA Commissioner Curtis Thayer and Jim Palmer, who for years ran BP’s government and public affairs department in Alaska. At the event Republican Party Chair Peter Goldberg presented a check to the Parnell campaign for $100,000 from the party.
- Also on Tuesday night, Alaska gas czar Dan Fauske and his wife Elaine hosted an event for Senate candidate Dan Sullivan. About 80 people turned out including House Speaker Mike Chenault, Rep. Mike Hawker, AHFC Executive Director Brian Butcher, Rep. Lindsey Holmes, North West Strategies’ Tim and Christine Woolston, John Boyles from the North Slope Borough, former legislator Alyce Hanley and Tara Sweeney, to name a few.
- Also on Tuesday evening at the Petroleum Club of Alaska, Reps. Eric Feige and Dan Sadler had a joint event as well; unfortunately, no one called to share any details.
- Getting sick of fundraising accounts? Me too. Expect more.
- Did anyone know that Matt Moore has dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress and is now seeking a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives?
- The Dems are meeting in Nome this weekend for their biennial state convention. This is how Nome is described on the party’s website: “A vibrant, multi-cultural, multi-national first class city in Northwest Alaska, established over 100 years ago as a Gold Rush community in the late 1800s. It is populated by native peoples, families of Gold Rush families, emigrants, immigrants and adventurers seeking freedom and peace in this welcoming community on the Bering Sea.” Which is certainly one way to see it. Another way is that it’s populated by Democrats who will vote for Byron Mallott and particularly Mark Begich.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
You asked what I thought about the ASAP line not being regulated by the RCA. I attempted to demonstrate that RCA oversight is possible if indirectly. If the AGDC attempts to extort unreasonable profit from sale of gas to Alaskans via Enstar, the RCA or legislature would soon be involved. (Although I certainly wouldn’t expect a RCA in the debt of Parnell or Parnell himself to lift a finger to help Alaskan consumers if the producers were impacted) . Lastly, I agree Cook Inlet is looking good if we can find a market to justify volumes of gas through export and/or agraium resuming operations. I tried to keep imports off the table in my example although they still could happen.
I’m not sure I follow your response. In any event, I never said that I thought we should not tax gas or regulate the pipeline.
If the choice is between a state run pipeline company that requieres the state to build $10 billion pipeline (big assumption that the costs will be less than $10 billion) to deliver $11 dollar gas to Anchorage, why wouldn’t we consider imports, even if the gas cost, say $13?
Also, I would not assume that Cook Inlet is going to run out of gas any time soon. In the last year several major discoveries have been announced and Hilcorp continues to pump a ton of money into the existing fields.
First assume no AKLNG project (very likely assumption) yet the AGDC project somehow remains viable (very unlikely assumption) and Cook Inlet or Nenana Basin does not prove as promising as it appears for local supply (very unlikely assumption). ..
So we would then have no local supply of gas other than AGDC/ASAP (Bullet Line) which is unregulated by the RCA. Then, regarding local supply of gas, importation of gas proves to be more forever mor expensive than the cost of AGDA/ASAP gas to consumers so we do not build any import capability..
Enstar is a RCA regulated utility; however, you are saying Enstar could purchase gas at the highest possible rate AGDC/AGDC could charge (even in excess of importation rates) and we the people would have nothing to say or do about that? I doubt it.
Also, if you assume energy suppliers should not be regulated or taxed by the state to force profit-sharing how long do you think the state can keep directly subsidizing consumer energy costs especially when you are dealing with non-renewable energy sources of gas and oil and such a small population spread out over such a large area? .
The chase forr campaign cash is interesting to watch this cycle, where it comes from and who’s getting it: Parnell – he’s doing an excellent job of systematically and methodically raising money at clips of $500 and less. He is doing much better than Walker or Malllott; DNR Sullivan – he has proven to be very good at raising funds. In fact, he has out raised Begich every quarter he has been in the race to date. Treadwell has been a miserable failure attracting support while Miller seens to hobble along collecting small contributions fromm the true followers. From what I see and read, DNR Sullivan and Parnell are focusing on small events and fundraising. Citizen’s United (outside $$) is coming into Alaska in piles, seemingly mostly to Begich. From year end APOC reports, the oil industry is not real active to candidate giving.
Lynn, if the cost of gas is too expensive to market we will not have a gas pipeline. That is how markets work. If nobody wants to buy Alaska gas, then the producers will not sanction the project. The difference w the bullet line is that it is driven by politicians and not the market, which is why Fauske made that statement. He has a statutory mandate to move the project forward. The question is will he continue to pursue it if the costs are too high?
Also realize that if the AK LNG line does get built and gas is too expensive for Alaskans this means the state is making billions and billions of dollars selling high priced gas to Asia. We can then use that money to help meet the energy needs of Alaskans. Alternatively we can just sell the State’s royalty share at a steep discount – which means less revenue for the state but cheaper energy for Alaskans.
What are your thoughts on the fact that the bullet line is not regulated by the RCA?
We depend on the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) to protect us from predatory rate charges for utilities including the gas from Parnell’s AKLNG plan. Don’t Parnell and his ilk hate government regulations and truly believe that even state protected utility monopolies should maximize profits?
Regarding the utility for natural gas, Dan Fauske once said that if imported LNG exceeds the cost of the AGDC/ASAP line (bullet line) he would consider himself on a fool’s errand. No such claim was made concerning cost of gas from the AKLNG project to Alaska consumers. The sky is the limit for gas to Alaskans from the AKLNG off take points and having a “understanding” RCA will ensure that we pay through the nose. .
After his recent actions, state board and commission members now understand that Parnell will replace them if they don’t tow the administration line. Now how encouraging to know that every one of the RCA appointees demonstrated their true loyalty by donating Parnell’s campaign which confirms that if any utility wants more – just call Parnell.
We can do better.
Alan Dick and Click Bishop? Hopefully someone else will run and we’ll end up with a real choice!
Alan Dick and Kelly Wolfe are flashes from the past that are best kept in the past.