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Oil and Gas Pipeline Topics
Korea
under pressure to invest in Louisiana LNG to lower US tariffs - The Korea Times
A U.S. request for Korea to
invest in Louisiana’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry has
emerged as a key agenda item in ongoing trade talks between the two
countries. U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs
on Korean goods back to 25 percent from 15 percent — the level agreed
upon last November — has been attributed partly to Seoul’s rejection
of that request.
Korean
investment in Louisiana LNG a key agenda item in trade talks - Korea Times
Korea has taken a cautious
stance on investing in the U.S. sector, citing uncertain
profitability. Although private company POSCO plans to import Alaska
LNG and supply pipe for the proposed Alaska project, the government
has ruled out any sovereign-level investment in the project as well
as any purchase of Alaska LNG by state-run Korea Gas.
Catch
up quick on oil and gas: LNG and Iran. - Axios
TotalEnergies has a
preliminary deal with Glenfarne, developer of a planned Alaska LNG
project, to offtake 2 million tons per year for two
decades. Yes, but: "Planned" is doing lots of
work in that sentence. Glenfarne's Alaska project needs to find
enough investment to get built, which is no certainty despite Trump
administration backing.
Glenfarne
and AGDC keep internal governance details secret – Reporting from Alaska
“There are different ways to
have control and influence in a corporation through the governance
and that's not just strictly through votes of the board. There are
usually some provisions that require unanimous consent and there are
provisions that rely on the minority member to approve of. We have
all of those in there,” Kissinger said. Sen. Cathy Giessel then asked
the right question of AGDC: “Can we see that document?” “We’re unable
to share those agreements. Those agreements are confidential and we’d
need the permission of Glenfarne to do that,” Kissinger said. Giessel
said that she would like AGDC to ask Glenfarne for permission to
provide redacted versions of the agreements that leave out
confidential information and show the structure.
Sales
tax to oil tax - Petroleum News
Senate Resources first heard
the bill Feb. 6 and by the time the bill reached its second hearing,
on Feb. 16, the committee had a substitute, version I, which
eliminated the sales tax, incorporated Senate bills related to
corporate income tax and taxing of certain oil and gas S-corporations
and limited liability companies, added an education head tax intended
to fund education, added a provision providing that the 6% minimum
production tax (up from 4% currently) would be a hard floor and
incorporated another Senate bill reducing the sliding scale per
barrel credit from a maximum of $8 to $5 per barrel and tied the use
of that credit to the amount of qualified capital expenditures made
in the same year.
ANS
surges into $70s - Petroleum News
The "geopolitical risk
premium could spike at any moment," Tradu's Nikos Tzabouras told
the Wall Street Journal. President Trump put continued pressure
on Iran during his State of the Union address, after giving a
10-15-day ultimatum for a deal, Tzabouras said, adding that those
actions maintained risks of military conflict, which could disrupt
oil flows and push prices higher.
(My comment: Our budget
depends on wars, violence, killing to increase oil prices. Its really
sad that we rejoice in higher oil prices at the price of people's
lives somewhere else in the world.)
Interior
revokes Dalton corridor withdrawals - North of 60
Mining News
The U.S. Department of the
Interior has issued Public Land Order No. 7966, revoking two
longstanding federal land withdrawals covering roughly 2.1 million
acres along the Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River and clearing
the way for Alaska to select the lands under its remaining statehood
entitlement.
Oil
price hike from Iran war will help Alaska’s fiscal struggles; how
much may depend on how long it lasts. – Juneau
Independent
It’s a cold financial fact
amidst the humanitarian considerations of the war against Iran: A
resulting increase in oil prices will help Alaska’s fiscally
struggling state government — potentially on a large scale.
(My comment: Our budget
depends on wars, violence, killing to increase oil prices. Results in
some Alaskans asking for larger dividends as revenue increases. Think
about it.)
Texas
investor with Trump family ties pursues project to tap North Slope
gas - Anchorage Daily
News
A Texas investor with ties to
the Trump family is pursuing a project to unlock natural gas from
Alaska’s North Slope using Russian technology. America First LNG,
aims to install facilities on the North Slope, where gas can be
super-chilled into a liquid. From there, the liquefied natural gas,
or LNG, would be shipped to Asian entities using tankers, including
specialized ice-breaking tankers, he said. Gas could also possibly be
delivered to Southcentral Alaska, he said.
(My comment: I've been told
this is an "export gas directly from the North Slope" idea.
Its similar to the project led by Mead Treadwell.)
Current Topics
Alaska
Permanent Fund’s performance compares favorably to peers, evaluators
tell lawmakers - Alaska
Public Media
The Alaska Permanent Fund
beat its performance benchmarks last year and compares favorably to
its peers, according to the investment consulting firm Callan, which
has advised the state on the Permanent Fund’s performance for
decades.
(My comment: A few District E
folks have criticized APFC, asserting that they are not investing the
Fund very well. In fact, Callan says they are meeting or exceeding
other funds.)
Lawmakers
press for cuts to Department of Corrections spending amid big
increases - ADN
Though the number
of inmates has remained largely stable since 2019, state
spending on the Department of Corrections is up more
than 54%, far outpacing inflation. The budget has grown every
year since Gov. Mike Dunleavy has taken office, commanding an
increasing share of annual state spending. This year’s budget request
exceeds $500 million for the first time.
Opinion:
The makings of a police state: A how-to guide - ADN
History shows us, contrary to
popular belief, that it is not a singular man who somehow monstrously
moves a nation to change its values and customs; it is a country
whose values and customs move monstrously to accommodate a singular
opportunist.
Alaska
House unanimously passes sweeping social media and AI restrictions - Anchorage Daily
News
Alaska
House passes bill limiting AI sexual imagery and child social media
use -
Alaska Public Media
A bill to enact sweeping
restrictions on social media platforms and artificial intelligence
unanimously passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Friday. If
adopted, Alaska would follow in the footsteps of several other states
that have imposed regulations on the use of social media by children.
Southeast
shrimping temporarily closed - KRBD
The state has expanded a
fishing closure for shrimp in Southeast Alaska to protect the
species. Shrimping in Southeast is now closed to all harvesters through April 30. It’s the
first time the seasonal closure has expanded to sport, personal use
and subsistence fisheries.
Door
flies off Grant Aviation plane during flight into Bethel - Anchorage Daily
News
A door detached from a plane
carrying five passengers as it neared Bethel on Sunday, according to
federal aircraft incident records and the aircraft’s operator.
Dunleavy asks Trump to allow
Ukrainian refugees to remain in Alaska - Anchorage Daily News
The renewals come on the
heels of advocacy by Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation
and a letter sent by Alaska’s Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy
directly to Trump in January.
(My comment: I'm glad to hear
about this ask, and hope that Ukrainians in Alaska can stay. I'd add
a desire for the $100,000 visa fees to be waived for our many
teachers coming from other countries to staff our schools.)
Things That I Found Interesting
Rising
Refusal of Newborn Vitamin K Shots Raises Concerns - Health Day
More parents are refusing a
vitamin K injection for their newborn. Babies who don’t get the
injection are 81 times more likely to suffer dangerous bleeding that
often causes brain damage. About 14% of babies who suffer this
bleeding die and 60% have brain bleeding.
Multitude
of Martens in Interior Alaska.- ADN
Like other members of the
weasel family, marten hunt and kill small animals, most often voles,
though they sometimes eat snowshoe hares, young birds and
blueberries. Marten feed on red squirrels in other parts of North
America, but in Alaska biologists have seen marten sharing squirrels’
underground network of winter tunnels without killing them. Marten
aren’t afraid to tackle animals their own size, Paragi said. He once
pieced together a marten drama evident by tracks left behind in the
snow. He observed where a marten paused during its wandering after
seeing a goshawk perched on a low tree limb.
Anchorage
has run out of affordable cemetery space. Natural burials could
become a new alternative - Anchorage
Daily News
No concrete, plastics,
resins, metal or formaldehyde would be buried on the property. Alaska
Natural Burial would not require a casket, and families could choose
to bury their loved ones in a shroud made of natural fibers. The soil
displaced during a burial, mounted on top of the gravesite, would
settle over time as nature reclaims the space, she said.
How
protecting wilderness could mean purposefully tending it, not just
leaving it alone | Alaska Beacon
In a time when lands are
experiencing the effects of climate change and people are renewing
their understanding of Indigenous knowledge and stewardship
practices, protecting these places may require action, not inaction.
(My comment: Foresters point
out that the indigenous people managed forests with controlled burns.
The meadows created were there "grocery store" where game
came to feed, and were available for food prey.)
New
Jersey’s ‘Radium Girls’ and the NIST-Trained Scientist Who Came to
Their Aid - NIST
Because the work required
fine detail to paint the tiny numbers, the factory supervisors
instructed the women to lick their camel-hair brushes to a point
before and after dipping the brushes in the radium paint. When some
of the women inquired whether lip pointing, as the technique was
known, was really safe, the supervisors assured them it was. The
women had little reason to doubt those assurances: Radium had been
hailed as a miracle substance ever since Marie and Pierre Curie had
discovered it in 1898. The stuff fizzed and gave off a mysterious
blue-green light. Doctors used it to treat colds and cancers.
Salesmen hawked radium face creams that would literally set the skin
aglow and, they promised, extend the lives of those who used it.
Tiny Texas School District
Rejects Tax Deal with $6 Billion LNG Project - Inside Climate News
In an
announcement last month, Texas LNG developer Glenfare Group said
it planned to finalize financing and begin construction this year on
its tract of coastal wetlands along the Brownsville Ship Channel,
adjacent to the 980-acre site of Rio Grande LNG, where
crews began clearing land in 2023. The Point Isabel
Independent School District on Monday rejected a multi-million dollar
tax break for a proposed $5.7 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG)
project on the Texas Gulf Coast, finding the facility would not
“align” with the community’s values or finances. At the school
board meeting Monday, residents expressed concerns that those jobs
and income weren’t worth the damage Texas LNG would do to their
eco-tourism industry or the emissions it would add to their air. The
company’s air pollution permit authorizes it to emit 6 tons
per year of soot, 105 tons per year of nitrogen oxides, 77 tons per
year of sulfur dioxide and 2 tons per year of “hazardous air
pollutants.”
(My comment: Gov Dunleavy
has proposed dropping our property taxes from 20 mills down to 2
mills for Glenfarne project. We haven’t heard from the mayors of
Alaska cities, municipalities, and boroughs about this.)
Arctic
Alaska
Senate resolution highlights' mutual respect' and cooperation with
Greenland Alaska Beacon
A resolution recently
introduced in the state Senate, Senate Joint
Resolution 24, seeks to promote continued friendship, cooperation and
“mutual respect” between Alaska and Greenland, an autonomous and
self-ruling territory that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and with
a mostly Inuit population that has cultural ties to Alaska’s Indigenous peoples.
Economy
Opinion:
Homework for Alaska: Sales tax or income tax? - Anchorage
Daily News
This homework assignment is
intended to get people thinking with facts, not emotions. Electing
the right candidates will be the first test.
Alaskans have until the next
election because nothing will change this year. It will take a new
political alignment led by a reality-based governor to organize
support in the Legislature and among the public.
PFD
amount separate issue, state senator says, as lawmakers learn
Permanent Fund had strong year - Alaska News Source
A state consultant told
Alaska lawmakers Wednesday the Permanent Fund had a strong year, but
one state senator said how much the dividend will be valued was
separate from the fund’s performance. “The dividend is a separate
issue with what we’re talking about today,” Sen. Bert Stedman,
R-Sitka and Senate Finance Co-Chair told Alaska’s News Source as he
left the hearing. ”We’re talking about the survival and viability of
the permanent fund.”
Cook
Inlet Housing Authority plans 72-apartment complex for older people
in Airport Heights - ADN
Cook Inlet Housing Authority
plans to build a new apartment complex in Airport Heights for aging
adults in Anchorage, making use of looser zoning rules the
municipality has adopted over the last year.
Opinion:
We tax the other guy and pass the savings along to ... - ADN
The governor’s proposed
solution to raise revenue is to institute a broad sales tax on both
residents and visitors. This plan acknowledges that industrial growth
comes with costs, and the governor is asking individual Alaskans and
visitors to cover these costs. Functionally, the governor is
suggesting that the people need to subsidize this industrial growth
and that profits from this industrial growth will not be taxed. The
governor’s plan can be summarized as “tax the people and pass the
savings along to corporate developers.”
Opinion:
Will Alaska’s fiscal cliff reflect a slow descent, or a hard fall? - Anchorage
Daily News
Alaska’s fiscal warnings have
been clear for years. Volatile
oil revenue, structural deficits and rising costs have put the state at what
many describe as a fiscal cliff. But the larger risk may not be the
drop in revenue. It may be the quiet normalization of contraction.
Alaska has lost roughly 34,000 working-age residents. About
half of our high school graduates leave the state. Enrollment
declines have forced difficult conversations about consolidating
schools and reducing
programs.
Alaska
has bigger needs than fattening the dividend Alaska Beacon
Higher oil prices mean more
money for the Alaska state treasury. After the annual draw on
Permanent Fund earnings, the money from oil taxes and royalties,
which are based on price per barrel and production, are the
second-largest deposit to the state checkbook. Every other taxpayer
is so small as to be a drop in the barrel.
Alaska’s
fiscal future Talk of
Alaska
Researchers with the Institute
of Social and Economic Research at UAA have put together a comprehensive
look at numerous fiscal options for Alaska and how the different
approaches would affect businesses and residents here.
(My comment: Great
discussion with economists!)
Education
Opinion:
We were honored as Alaska Teachers of the Year. Now we can no longer
stay. - Anchorage Daily
News
In 2019, after being selected
as Alaska’s 2018 State Teacher of the Year, I worked with other
award-winning educators to pen an op-ed: “Why
teach in Alaska?” My wife, Catherine
Walker —
the 2024 Alaska Teacher of the Year and one of four National
Teacher of the Year finalists — and I are leaving. Alaska is a beautiful state and was a
great place for us to raise our children outside and be active. But
Alaska needs to realize you can kayak and fish in plenty of other
states while also being treated like a professional and earning a
secure pension, in addition to having a high quality of life due to
funded and respected public sector services and employees.
(My comment: Both Paige and
Ben (young staff in my office) had Mr. Walker as teacher at Romig.
Paige is UAA student; Ben is Dartmouth College student. Both have
excelled because of teachers like Mr. Walker. Alaska should be sad
and ashamed to lose him and his wife.)
Opinion:
Anchorage’s schools are still worth fighting for - Anchorage Daily
News
Many remember a time when
families moved to Anchorage specifically for our great schools. They
say people came here because we shaped the community with close-knit
neighborhoods, alternative education pathways and strong career
learning options. I believe that time is still now. The Anchorage
School District continues to offer incredibly diverse opportunities,
including immersion schools, school choice programs and dynamic
activities.
Lawmakers
hear ‘State of the Schools’ amid dire conditions and uncertain
funding – Alaska News Source
When the lawmakers heard
that three school districts were scraping by to keep the lights on,
it may not have come as a surprise. It’s not even the first time this
week they’ve heard that story from many of their constituents. Those
three new stories came out of the House Education and Early
Development SubCommittee early Friday morning, telling lawmakers they
need more support but with dozens of high-priority items needing to
be addressed this session, it’s unclear just how high education will
rank.
Alaska
lawmakers push Trump administration to waive $100k visa fee for
international teachers Alaska Beacon
Some Alaska school
districts say they can’t afford to hire and retain international
teachers after the Trump administration hiked fees for highly skilled
worker visas. Alaska school districts have increasingly
hired international teachers through the H-1B program amid an
ongoing teacher shortage. Until last September, the annual fee for
such visas was $5,000 per person. Now it is $100,000 under an
executive order by the Trump administration
Elections
Alaska
lawmakers question Dunleavy administration over handling of voter
data - Anchorage Daily
News
Alaska’s
voter roll transfer: Republicans bash hearing questioning if
lieutenant governor broke the law – Alaska News Source
Feds
fail to take basic security steps to protect private info on Alaska
voter rolls –
Reporting from Alaska
Opinion:
The privacy of every Alaskan voter is now in question - Anchorage Daily
News
Alaska lawmakers are raising
alarm over a decision last year by Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom to
release confidential information about the state’s voters to the
federal Department of Justice.
Legislators advised to sue
state for turning confidential voter data over to DOJ – Juneau Independent
Lawmakers question Alaska’s
decision to turn over confidential voter data to DOJ – Alaska Public Media
Dunleavy administration
assumed feds could force state to hand over private data on all
Alaska voters –
Reporting from Alaska
She cited a state
law that allows the federal government to access confidential
voter information for “governmental purposes authorized under law.”
Some attorneys invited to testify at the hearing, including former
Alaska Attorney General Bruce Botelho, argued the state had
overstepped its authority in agreeing to share the list with the
federal government.
Energy
Nuclear reactor restart in
Japan will likely displace natural gas electricity generation EIA
On February 9, 2026, Japan
restarted Unit 6 of its largest nuclear power plant, the
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station in Niigata Prefecture, which
was shut down following the 2011 Fukushima tsunami and nuclear
accident. As the reactor returns to full operations, the resulting
increase in nuclear generation is likely to displace generation from
fossil sources, mainly natural gas, which accounted for 33% of all
Japan’s electricity generation in 2024.
Fisheries
Alaska
Board of Fisheries votes to reduce Area M salmon fishing times - KYUK
On Feb. 25, the board
approved a proposal to reduce June salmon fishing times in the area
along the western Alaska Peninsula and Eastern Aleutians in a 4-3
vote. It pencils out to a loss of 136 hours for the drift fleet and
94 hours for the seine fleet. The reductions come during periods when
vulnerable chum salmon stocks are present, but also when commercial
fishermen are busy scooping up sockeye. It’s a move welcomed by
Western Alaska tribes and stakeholders who have faced years of
record-low chum salmon returns on the Kuskokwim River, and complete
salmon fishing closures on the Yukon River.
Healthcare
Unalaska's
rural healthcare could get national spotlight with new documentary
series – Alaska
Public Media
Dawn Johnson, CEO of
Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, said A&E reached out to the
clinic about a series highlighting what it's like to deliver
healthcare in a remote, rural setting like Unalaska — from the
backgrounds of the providers themselves to the everyday challenges
they face.
Politics
Iran
attack on giant Saudi refinery pushes up oil prices Axios
Oil analyst Ellen Wald said
that if ships avoid entering the strait for weeks, it could further
boost prices. "If we're looking at this kind of level of
military activity in the Gulf for four weeks, I think we will
probably have some serious problems, particularly in Asia, for
availability of crude oil and oil products,"
Why
there is no "oil shock" this time around Axios
We're far less dependent on
oil than in 1979, when a crisis in Iran caused widespread disruption
in the U.S. There were long lines for gas, and the situation was
so dire that it pushed Americans to drive smaller Japanese cars, at
least for a time.
U.S. natural gas prices hold
steady amid Middle East unrest Axios
America's natural gas bounty is acting like a moat,
largelyshielding the U.S. from price spikes while much of the world
reels from escalating unrest in the Middle East.
Iran
war drives gas price uncertainty ahead of busy summer season Alaska Beacon
“The pump reaction is not
only underway — it’s accelerating,” said Patrick De Haan, head of
petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, which tracks prices. Increases were
already on tap even before Saturday’s U.S.-Israel strikes at Iran, as
warmer weather usually means more demand and refiners start producing
a summer-blend product.
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