Posted on 06/10/2004 1:44:37 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
New Tussle Over Alaskan Oil
ANCHORAGE, June 10, 2004
"It's an incredible rollback that the agency [BLM] is not acknowledging to the public." Eleanor Huffines, The Wilderness Society |
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Sarge, News Bulletin: Africa is a continent, not a nation. Aside from that, I agree with your basic thesis that eco-nuts would better serve the world by migrating to the 3rd world.
So what? 100 years from now, nobody will ever be able to tell that we were even there.
The ecoists actually stopped a new, major gold mine for a couple of weeks this year just before its first mining season. Just a few hundred pretty good local jobs, that's all.
The Democrats must have something to beat us about the head and shoulders with - ALASKA is a BIG STICK!
ANWAR + HDRO-POWERED VEHICLES = U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE.
Those photos have been fabricated by the Bush/Cheyney team to decieve the masses!
/sarcasm
Certainly great news then.
Links?
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, hard copy. Let me see if it's on their webpage.
National Center for Policy Analysis - Tired of the federal government hampering its economy by prohibiting natural resource recovery from federal lands located in the state, the Alaskan state government has taken matters into its own hands and opened more of its non-federal lands to oil and gas recovery.
Environmental activists have already filed a suit on behalf of the interests of caribou and other wildlife, but areas such as the National Petroleum Reserve were already designated for oil and gas development by the Federal Government back in 1923.
Moreover, 70 percent of Alaskas residents favor oil and gas drilling in ANWR. In response, Alaskas politicians are attempting to avoid a backlash from voters over economic harm to Alaska due to federal restrictions on oil and gas recovery by offering state lands.
Article Published: Thursday, June 03, 2004
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$53.9 million in NPR-A bids offered Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE--Five oil companies bid Wednesday for the right to develop 1.4 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, in the largest onshore federal lease sale in state history. The high bids totaled $53.9 million and covered 123 individual tracts. The highest bid for a single tract was $13.74 million, made by Fortuna Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Calgary, Alberta-based Talisman Energy Inc. The land, more than 5 million acres in the northwest region of the NPR-A, is remote and without infrastructure. It could take more than a decade to explore and develop, said officials with the federal Bureau of Land Management. "The energy resources of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska are essential to meeting our nation's energy demands," said Henri Bisson, BLM's Alaska director. "These resources will enhance domestic energy production in the future and decrease dependence on foreign oil sources." |
The NPR-A covers about 23.5 million acres of public land west of Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope. Estimates of oil reserves in the NPR-A range from about 6 billion to 13 billion barrels of oil.
BLM will review the bids over the next 90 days before formally awarding the leases, bureau spokesman Edward Bovy said.
ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., Petro-Canada Alaska Inc., Fortuna, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Inc. turned in their sealed bids by Friday's deadline, BLM spokeswoman Jody Weil said. The bids were unsealed and read Wednesday morning in Anchorage.
Many of the higher bids were located near the Barrow Arch, a potentially oil-rich geologic vein that cuts across Prudhoe Bay and west through the reserve.
"There are always surprises in these lease sales," Bisson said after reading the bids. "You don't know what information people have about the resources, or what their take is on those particular resources. They obviously feel the lease tract is worth it or they wouldn't have bid that much."
Some of the companies bid together on some tracts and separately on others. Fortuna and Petro-Canada had not participated in previous NPR-A lease sales, Weil said.
Richard Garrard, ConocoPhillips exploration manager, said the Canadians companies' entry this time surprised nobody.
"We expected some Canadian companies would come here," Garrard said. "They're accustomed to working in northern latitudes and more remote locations in the Arctic."
Petro-Canda spokeswoman Michelle Harris said her company was pleased with Wednesday's sale, but did not have immediate plans for the land the company bid on.
"We see it as a future growth area," Harris said.
The proceeds from the lease sales and the annual rental payments are split between the federal government and the state. The state's share from Wednesday's bids could come to $26.9 million, Bisson said.
A federal judge ruled last week that leaseholders would not be able to occupy any of the land until a legal challenge by seven environmental groups has been resolved.
The environmental groups say the lease plan violates several environmental protection laws and ignores sensitive habitat for North Slope birds, wildlife and whales.
Garrard said the lawsuit should not delay any plans ConocoPhillips has to explore the area.
"We were not anticipating going out and starting physical operations ... this winter, but hopefully it will be resolved by the time we do want to go out."
President Warren Harding established the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 in 1923. The reserve became NPR-A in 1976 when it was turned over to the Department of the Interior.
Wednesday's lease sale was the third in the NPR-A since 1999 and the first in the region's northwest section.
That was the Naval Petroleum Reserve, PET-4. It was originally to be a coal reserve for the old naval coal-burning ships, and it was pre-WW I. Teapot Dome was also a Naval Petroleum Reserve, which is why it was upsetting that the White House let a development contract to cronies in the business. Maybe the modern Navy doesn't need oil. The coal will remain, I assume, in case we retrogress to coal-fired battleships.
Thank you so much for posting this! I agree 100%. EYES WIDE OPEN!! yoli
I hear you.
I detest these fascists.
Your post wasn't clear to me. Did they stop the mine for a few weeks, or indefinitely? I understand the weather-related concerns up there.
Sorry, I'm brand new here. That was supposed to go to Happy2beme in reply. yoli
After a couple weeks and a street protest FReepers would have been proud of the northern envoros withdrew their complaint from the court and the mine opened. This town seriesly does not appreciate enviro-logic, although we like to keep things tidy and handy at the same time.
"...ignores sensitive habitats for birds, wildlife and whales..."
Too bad these nuts probably believe it's O.K. to ignore sensitive habitats for pre-born babies...and allow abortion.
"We are talking about 4.4 million acres (96% of the 4.6 million) out of 23.5 MILLION?!?! "
A piece of 8 1/2 X 11 typing paper on a football field.
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