{"id":281413,"date":"2023-10-01T19:46:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T17:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=281413"},"modified":"2023-10-01T19:46:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T17:46:34","slug":"alaska-energy-vs-woke-government-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=281413","title":{"rendered":"Alaska Energy vs. Woke Government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Master<\/strong>Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Kassie Andrews\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe actions of Alaska policy makers, led by the governor, are eradicating the free-market principles in our state. A media blackout on the problem has left only citizen-led initiatives driving the train to truth. We the People Alaska publishes an eye-opening substack<\/a> on many of these topics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Alaska\u2019s economy runs on oil and gas. Additionally, oil revenues have accounted for up to 90% of our General Fund<\/a> revenue. Amid its resource abundance, however, Alaska has a big and growing governmental problem\u2014mostly in Washington, D.C., and increasingly, in local governments trying to appease their federal masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaska has been in a production decline trend since 1988 when the state accounted for 25 percent of U.S. domestic production. Presently, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is running at a quarter of its capacity (485K barrels per day).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline is not<\/em> for lack of resource, as indicated in part from the proposed Willow Project, which would add 180K\/d in 2028 to increase overall TAPS deliveries by 13 percent. Santos Pikka Phase I<\/a> is expected to add 80k\/d in 2026, according to the Alaska Department of Revenue \u2013 Tax Division<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willow Project<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the\u00a0Conoco Phillips Willow Project<\/a>\u00a0has been sanctioned in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The largest oil development project in Alaska in decades was met with fierce opposition from outside environmental groups. The project was pulled back for insertion of language from President Biden\u2019s\u00a0Executive Order 13990<\/a>, establishing the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (SC-GHG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Biden\u2019s compromise was an alternative<\/a> that promises to leave 53 million barrels in the ground. The option to not develop our resources is in violation of Article VIII\u2014Natural Resources<\/a> of the Alaska Constitution: \u201cIt is the policy of the State to encourage the settlement of its land and the development of its resources by making them available for maximum use consistent with the public interest.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cpublic interest\u201d is hardly about Alaska and climate change. A bit of extra warmth from any cause is welcomed year-round in this state, particularly since the \u201cgreenhouse signal\u201d is oriented toward winter nights<\/a>. Moreover, Alaska emits<\/a> around one hundredth of one percent of global GHG emissions<\/em>, calculated by multiplying the state\u2019s 0.8 percent of U.S. emissions times the U.S. share of global emissions of 12 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willow has now moved the yard marker and will be an example for every other resource development project on federal lands, while simultaneously creating a fictitious value to SC-GHG. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, has been the ringleader in all of this. Her nomination as secretary was advanced out of committee<\/a> by Alaska United States Senator Lisa Murkowski, and she was confirmed by both Alaska US Senators Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. Most Alaska oil and gas executives endorsed<\/a> Lisa for reelection in 2022, a story of pragmatism gone wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natural Gas for Alaska<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaska\u2019s (governmental) oil problem is also a natural gas problem. In Anchorage, the majority of power and heat comes from gas. In the last couple of years, the state has been fed a narrative<\/a> of a looming natural gas shortage in the Cook Inlet basin with ideas floating around recently to import gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011, USGS estimated<\/a> that Cook Inlet Region contained 20 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF) with a 95% probability of 5 TCF being proved (economic). That is a lot<\/em> of gas, with proved reserves representing a half-century of usage in the state (primarily Anchorage) at present consumption rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional gas is supplied to ENSTAR, which was bought out in 2022 by TriSummit Utilities, owned by two Canadian public investment managers, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) being one of them. According to TriSummit\u2019s 2022\u00a0ESG report<\/strong><\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n