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Oil and Gas Pipeline Topics
Alaska
House shrinks governor’s proposed tax break for LNG project AK Pub Media
The House Resources
Committee’s version of House Bill 381 would raise more money for the state and
local communities than Dunleavy’s proposal but far less than the draft under
consideration in the state Senate. All three would replace the existing 2% annual
statewide property tax on oil and gas infrastructure with a tax on
the amount of gas running through the project.
Committee
substitutes up Petroleum
News
Both the House and Senate
Resources committees now have committee substitutes for the
governor's alternative volumetric tax bill in play, with Senate
Resources continuing hearings on their CS, which was introduced April
20, and House Resources beginning hearings on their CS, introduced at
the committee's April 27 meeting.
(My comment: Nov 2025
Legislature told a “bill” would be necessary. March 5-Senate tired of
waiting for Governor to offer a policy so SB 275 started. March
20-Governor finally sent his policy to us. As of May 7- Senate has 25
hearings on gas pipeline. We are working hard to assess this complex
topic. Governor stated (4-30) that “Alaska gasline bill is the most
important bill this session.” Begs the question – why did he wait
until March 20 to give us his policy idea?)
A
fuel supply crisis Petroleum
News
Alaska oil refineries do
not have the capability to supply the fuels that the villages need.
And so the rural communities have to obtain fuel from elsewhere. Fuel
is shipped to the west coast of the state and then carried by barge
up rivers to the villages. Some is transported by aircraft, but this
is an expensive option. The seaborne fuel has to be delivered during
the summer, when the sea and the rivers are clear of ice. The
villages have tanks with the capacity to store at least a year’s
supply of fuel.
Alaska on the Hill: Finding
common ground North of 60 mining news
From building wind farms in
Suozzi's home state of New York to permitting mines in Alaska that
produce the metals needed to construct them, a growing number of U.S.
policymakers, industry leaders, and voters are recognizing a common
reality – sectors and ideologies often at odds are increasingly bound
by shared challenges best addressed through collaboration.
Catch
up quick on oil and gas Axios
Exxon's and
Chevron's Q1 earnings this morning both beat analysts'
expectations despite lower profits. But it's a mixed bag — especially
for Exxon — as higher crude prices are balanced against disrupted
operations. "ExxonMobil and Chevron have defied calls
from the White House to increase oil production, resisting pressure
from an administration that is struggling to end the biggest energy
crisis in decades," the FT
reports. Exxon
earnings deck ... Chevron
earnings deck.
Dunleavy
blasts lawmakers’ Alaska LNG bills, saying they don’t offer enough
support Anchorage
Daily News
White
House supports governor’s LNG bills as legislature makes significant
changes. Alaska
News Source
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy
on Monday criticized bills in the House and Senate for not
going far enough to support the Alaska LNG megaproject.
The bills, recently adopted
by the Senate and House resources committees, revised the
version Dunleavy had introduced in March.
Glenfarne
may want $60 million in free state gravel
Reporting
From Alaska
The state wants to give
away gravel for free to projects that find favor with state
officials, such as the Ambler Road and
the gas pipeline.
For the gas pipeline, this
could mean up to 20 million cubic yards of gravel, worth upwards of
$60 million. But the Alaska Gas Pipeline Development Corp. says it is
in secret negotiations to get something of value for that gas line
gravel.
Opinion:
A gas line boom shouldn’t leave Alaska’s towns struggling to catch up Anchorage
Daily News
It’s a massive undertaking,
with a construction schedule stretching at least seven years and
employing close to 10,000 workers at its peak, with about half coming
from out of state during the busiest construction years, according to
the environmental impact
statement prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, which authorized the project in 2020.
In
Alaska Legislature’s last days, a key question: How much to subsidize
the gas pipeline? Alaska Beacon
Senators
express skepticism about passing Alaska LNG bill before session’s end
Anchorage
Daily News
Dunleavy
warns of a veto on LNG bills, but hopeful legislature will pass
‘something that works’. Alaska News Source
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy
is urging state lawmakers to act on his proposal to cut state taxes
by $7.2 billion over the next 36 years to subsidize construction of
the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline. “We’re doing what we
believe is the best thing for the people of Alaska,” Sen. Cathy
Giessel, R-Anchorage, told Alaska’s News Source Tuesday. “We’re
supporting a gas pipeline, but not at any cost to
Alaskans.” Wielechowski said during the conference he had not
heard from the governor all session and “if this is a number one
priority, if this is something we critically need to do, it’d be
helpful if we were getting the information that we need and we’re
just not getting it.”
Current Topics
Alaska
Legislature sends public pension bill to governor’s desk Anchorage
Daily News
Alaska
Senate votes to restore public pension system, amid debate around
cost Alaska Beacon
Revival
of public employee pensions passes Legislature — but still faces big
final hurdle Juneau Independent
Alaska
Legislature passes bill offering public pensions with fate at
Dunleavy’s desk uncertain Alaska Public Media
Alaska
Legislature approves bill to revive public pension system, now headed
to Dunleavy’s desk Alaska Beacon
“Having employees have the
option of a defined benefit pension system is a good thing for the
state of Alaska. This experiment we’ve been on for the last two
decades of a defined contribution system has failed us,” said Rep.
Calvin Schrage, an Anchorage independent. “Every other state offers a
pension for at least some of their public servants. We do not, and we
are seeing the results,” she said. “We ask our public employees to do
difficult work, often in the hardest conditions. The question is
whether we will give them a reason to build a career here. We have,
in effect, turned Alaska into a training ground, a place where people
come, gain experience and then leave," Senate Majority Leader
Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said during floor debate.
2
Anchorage wood lots set to open Friday Anchorage
Daily News
Two Anchorage wood lots are
set to open Friday and are scheduled to remain open through the end
of October.
Senators
grill Dunleavy AG pick Stephen Cox in contentious confirmation
hearings Alaska Public Media
Alaska
lawmakers raise concerns with Dunleavy’s attorney general pick ahead
of confirmation vote Alaska Beacon
State lawmakers raised
concerns in a series of legislative hearings while they considered
the confirmation of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s attorney general designee
Stephen Cox. At issue were controversial legal actions Cox took in
his first eight months in office.
Stuff I found Interesting
Winter's
end is written in the clouds over Alaska Phys Org
As winter turned to spring,
the skies over the Gulf of Alaska displayed textbook examples of
numerous cloud formations. Winter 2026 roared to an end in southern
Alaska as parts of the coast saw below-normal temperatures and bouts
of moderate to heavy snow. Viewed from above, the region's
atmospheric instability was apparent in the striking display of cloud
formations just offshore.
Young
Alaskans have highest rate of ATV crash injuries, according to state
data Alaska
Public Media
Alaskans between the ages
of 12 to 15 had the highest rate of all-terrain vehicle, or ATV,
crash injuries, compared to other age groups. That’s according to
data from emergency department visits, from 2019 to 2024, in a
bulletin released by the state public health division.
Economy
America's bleak milestone Axios
The United States crossed a
symbolic threshold: The national debt is now larger than its GDP.
What matters is why it got that high, the prospects for future
borrowing, and the forecast for growth and borrowing
costs. Across those dimensions, the U.S. fiscal outlook is
exceptionally gloomy, in ways not reflected in much of the day-to-day
political discourse.
Education
Alaska
lawmakers consider strengthening civics education requirements for
high schoolers Alaska Beacon
“Certainly, I think there’s
just a lack of understanding. I have talked to a lot of kids who just
have no idea that there is a state government and there is a federal
government. There’s a difference between the two,” he said, adding
that each governments’ roles and responsibilities are important to
understand.
Stevens said Alaska’s
students should know that, states are responsible for administering
public schools and running elections. “I think kids need to know
that, and I think they’re interested in it.”
Opinion:
Alaska’s schools are being hollowed out by policy choices, not
inevitability Anchorage
Daily News
The recent Anchorage Daily
News editorial urging us to face a smaller school system
misses the real crisis: Our schools are being hollowed out by policy
choices at the state level, not inevitability.
Fairbanks
lawyer tapped as next University of Alaska president Anchorage
Daily News
UA
Board of Regents appoints university’s former general counsel as 18th
president. Juneau Independent
University
of Alaska Board of Regents announce new university president Alaska Beacon
The University of Alaska
Board of Regents selected attorney Matt Cooper as the
next president of the UA system
Court
halts Campbell STEM shutdown amid ASD legal battle. Alaska News Source
Judge
orders Anchorage School District to pause Campbell STEM closure
actions Anchorage
Daily News
Families suing the Anchorage School District over the
planned closure of Campbell STEM Elementary School were dealt a
partial victory Friday in an order from Superior Court Judge Una
Gandbhir. The order requires the district to stop the process of
closing Campbell STEM until a hearing can be held later this month
for school district officials to address their decision.
Alaska
school district considers allowing teachers and staff to carry
handguns at work Alaska Beacon
The Matanuska-Susitna
Borough School District is scheduled to consider a proposal that
would pay teachers, staff and contractors to carry handguns at
schools in the borough.
Elections
Supreme
Court Narrows Voting Rights Act, Upending... NCSL
The U.S. Supreme Court has
upended the longstanding framework courts use to determine when the
Voting Rights Act requires a state to draw additional
majority-minority districts, a decision expected to transform the
future of redistricting litigation.
Energy
Where
the energy shock is turned upside down Axios
The U.S. is
producing so much natural gas that at one hub in West Texas,
drillers have to pay customers to take the stuff — or put
another way, prices are negative. It's surprising given that
we're in the middle of the worst energy shock in history. But
unlike oil, which trades in a global market, natural gas still mostly
trades at the regional level. And the U.S. produces enough to supply
itself.
Where
the energy shock is turned upside down Axios
The U.S. is producing so
much natural gas that at one hub in West Texas, drillers have to
pay customers to take the stuff — or put another way, prices are
negative! It's surprising given that we're in the middle of the
worst energy shock in history. But unlike oil, which trades in a
global market, natural gas still mostly trades at the regional level.
And the U.S. produces enough to supply itself.
Questions
raised over Chugach Electric's potential hydro projects Petroleum
News
There have been some
filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding
proposals by Chugach Electric Association to build new hydroelectric
facilities in Southcentral Alaska. As previously reported by
Petroleum News, the utility has proposed four potential sites, two on
the Kenai Peninsula and two near the Glenn Highway northeast of
Anchorage. At this point the utility is in the early stages of
evaluating the sites and has applied for preliminary FERC permits.
Healthcare
Alaska
House advances bills aimed at regulating standards, conditions for
caregivers Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House of
Representatives advanced two bills relating to certified nurse aide
training and home health care workers this week in an effort to
support Alaska’s growing senior population.
1
big thing: AI doctors without guardrails Axios
This isn't a debate for the
future. It's playing out right now in Utah. The state has
partnered with health startup Doctronic in a pilot program that will
allow AI systems to automate some prescription refills for chronic
conditions, with some human oversight. Though the initiative is
still in the first phase, which requires human review and approval of
every AI-renewed prescription, the state medical board last month called for the program to be suspended and
said it "potentially places Utah citizens at
risk." Citing safety guardrails built into the agreement,
the state agencies involved declined to
suspend the program.
Politics
Alaska
National Guard troops set to soon deploy to Washington, D.C. Anchorage
Daily News
About two dozen Alaska
National Guard service members will soon be dispatched to Washington,
D.C., for several weeks as part of a Trump administration initiative to suppress
crime in
the nation’s capital.
The
latest on Iran: Prices and politics Axios
WTI, the U.S. benchmark,
fell below $90, and Brent, the international reference, dropped under
$100 before both regained ground.
Alaska
National Guard to deploy 25 service members to Washington DC Alaska Beacon
Alaska will deploy 25
National Guard soldiers and airmen to Washington D.C. this month,
according to a Friday update from the Alaska Department of Military and
Veteran Affairs.
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