THIS SITE HISTORICAL:
In 2008 through 2010, an "Independent mom & pop" oil company violated the "Alaskan Public Trust" doctrine, allowing malfeasance and environmental atrocities upon the "Last Frontier". This "blog" is dedicated to follow the outcome of the illegal activities that have now become front and center attention before the regulators in charge of making sure the "Public Trust" is upheld, as a centralized forum to make sure Alaskans and others are kept abreast of penalties and fines upon those that feel Alaska is the "Last Frontier Dumping Grounds".

The above image depicts a crude oil well flow-back test, wherein for days hydrocarbon saturated "wet" natural gas was allowed to vent to the atmosphere out a safety relief valve, with temperatures and ambient conditions such that the "wet" vapors most likely condensed and fell upon the pristine waters of Harrison Bay of the Colville River delta, a place so far removed from man-made pollution. This image is also the cover photo of the report called "Alaska's Deadliest Sin", a culmination of malfeasance and environmental corruption evidence upon this Independent, collected by an ex-employee who has made it a personal "mission" to make sure this kind of irresponsible behavior is stopped and never again repeated on this "Frontier". To date, the company – Pioneer Natural Resources - has attempted to deny all allegations, but the evidence allowing denial is too strong. With that, the company has started to admit true so serious these violations. They have admitted their actions are indeed a violation of "Public Trust". With a 3rd party ongoing investigation following the submittal of the "Sin", the end result should be stiff fines and penalties upon the perpetrators, that which sends a message to those that want to "Go North" for oil exploration and exploitation.

"Drill Baby Drill" is upon us, thanks to Sarah Palin and others, and we must stand up against this all out blitzkrieg assault upon the ecosystem, to protect the environment from continued malfeasance and environmental atrocities, as it is not worth another Love Canal!
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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Your PFD

How does your PFD stuff money, extra cash, in your pockets? It comes from resource development. As a “resident” of the state of Alaska, you are entitled to enjoy the results of under-surface development, as ownership of the resources comes by virtue through that residency. So in efforts for the state revenue police to make sure we are getting our “money’s” worth, they provide oversight. Hundreds of state jobs were created to provide the management of state resources, with respect to taxation and royalty. Upon the PFD when considering oil development, once a lease is “spuded” and produces the “Black Gold”, the oil must be measured, so the state can stake claim the “royalty” and severance tax, thus the PFD pot from “black gold” begins to grow. So for the past 30-years, it meant accurate measurement with oversight, all in efforts to make sure that the amount of oil depleted from a lease formation was accurate. In fact, the entire North Slope oil measurements scheme is unsurpassed, wherein a barrel of oil can be justified to 4decimal places and that accuracy traceable all the way back to the National Bureau of Standards, in D.C., as it is big money and any inaccuracies along the way means millions in lost revenue. But when Pioneer Natural Resources came to Alaska to develop risky formations in the Beaufort Sea, things changed, for the worse. Based on the “smaller footprint” concept, to sell projects that “Big Oil” said was a risk, the state legislative branch provided concessions. One step forward three back came when the state bureaucrats allowed PNR to use a new measurement devise, never once allowed for “fiscal” oil measurement and at the same time allowed the “industry” to be the oversight with the approval of such. Today as oil is transported from PNR’s Oooguruk Island, an island that is man-made and almost disappeared during a major ice storm - something the engineers said wouldn’t happen in a 100-years - well that “approved” oil accounting is costing the state in revenue, it is loosing ground with your PFD! In fact, the measurement is so bad that a “Big Oil” company that was made to accept PNR oil, this company demands in return for the “measurement uncertainty risks” upon this type of measurement, free oil in return! This “risk” is not enjoyed by the state, so we are getting screwed. What is good for the goose should be good for the…. So each day that PNR produces 20000 barrels, 600 barrels are given to a major oil company for no other reason than the fact that the state allowed for a shabby form of accounting. At the same time, the state gets screwed accepting this inferior type of measurement. But this is what happened when the oversight police, the AOGCC, was taken over by Palin. Then she became governor, so the reign of ineptness with respect to oversight continued, and made its debut of dereliction when Pioneer developed the Oooguruk project – as the 1st Independent to take advantage the “Drill Baby Drill” mentality. Lighten up on the “Independents” was the pre-requisite to “Drill Baby Drill”, and it may create jobs and allow oil development where no “Big Oil” has the balls or guts to visit, in the end we get screwed and the environment suffers. That is not what resource development is all about. But maybe the regulators have learned their lesson, and we will not see a repeat, as with a 3rd party investigation upon Pioneer’s Oooguruk “near-shore” development on Harrison Bay, of the Colville River delta on the Beaufort Sea, for reasons upon environmental atrocities, maybe the tides have turned, and from now on end maybe the PFD and/or environment will not be in jeopardy any more then what it has too to support oil development. But we cannot have our cake and eat it too! If we see oil development “creep” in sensitive areas upon Alaska’s northern coast, we must say “No”, not on our watch, until such time all of our environmental demands are secured. And money cannot ever cover the cost of irresponsible development, and all the jobs “created” are not worth it, neither is that PFD, as the latter is nothing short “sham” recycling! Just ask the Pioneer executives. Hey what is an oil executive with 4 bars?