The Threat to Alaska's Oil Tax System, ACES

There's currently an operation underway to give billions of dollars back to the oil companies in Alaska, undermining the tax system passed under Governor Palin's administration known as ACES (Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share). These are things that are good to understand especially since we're talking about Governor Palin's record.

Bob and Mark explain a little bit of what's happening:

Here's a link to the pdf of the Tax Foundation's Alaska ranking.

And they talked about it with Senator Wielechowski this morning:

When Bob and Mark talk about the pipeline being owned and tariffs, etc... they're referring to the fact that the oil line in Alaska is controlled by the Big Three oil companies, Exxon, BP, and ConocoPhilips. They charge other smaller companies a tariff to ship their oil in the pipeline. This is why Governor Palin was so adamant about the natural gas pipeline being built by a separate entity like TransCanada.

Learn more in Sarah Takes on Big Oil.

Bob and Mark Talk about Palin and Alaska

From this morning on the Bob and Mark Show:

Bob Lester was also interviewed by the BBC at what appears to be the start of the Iron Dog race. They asked his opinion on whether Sarah will run and if she could win. He doesn't think she'll run (that's nothing new. He's held that opinion for a long time now), but if she does run, she will win. The interview is here. Bob is at 1:10. Tracey of Alaskans4Palin is on right before him.

Sarah Palin's So Stupid...She Leaves a Budget Surplus

The gall of that woman. Doesn't Sarah Palin know that politicians are supposed to spend every dime they take in and more? Who ever heard of putting money away and forward funding for the future? What an idiot.

The ADN is reporting that in a year where most states are hurting big time, the state of Alaska is finishing out this fiscal year with 2 billion dollars worth of surplus. The state budget is built, for the most part, on oil tax revenues. The current tax platform, ACES, was put into place under Governor Palin. When oil prices were high, she socked a few billion away rather than spend it all. She explained some of her budget philosophy in July of 2008 in this interview with IBD:


From the article:

Gov. Sean Parnell had a pleasant surprise for legislators in Juneau Feb. 2: A $2.2 billion state budget surplus...That's up $700 million from $1.5 billion estimated as a surplus for the current fiscal year of 2010 that was projected two months ago by the state Department of Revenue.

Parnell proposes to tie up most of the surplus in state savings accounts, a move aimed possibly at preventing the Legislature from spending it, but he would also use $100 million to accelerate a major maintenance program on public buildings around the state, including schools.

Parnell would deposit $1.1 billion of the surplus into a state savings account that is used to "forward fund" education, and deposit $402 million into the constitutional budget reserve...The Legislature tapped the education fund last year when oil revenues sagged, and the deposit this year would bring it back to a $1 billion level.

The state overall has a healthy balance sheet, worth more than $10 billion in various reserve accounts not including the Alaska Permanent Fund with its market value of about $30 billion.

Not bad. Actually, pretty awesome considering the financial state of the country. So much for all that hoopla from lawmakers after the 2008 election that the state might run a deficit and have to dip into the Permanent Fund.

It looks like Palin's successor, Sean Parnell, is following in her footsteps by using the surplus wisely. If Palin had not been tapped for the 2008 election, the lawmakers would more than likely be praising her right now instead of Parnell. The partisanship that threatened to choke the state after she got back was ridiculous. Palin was right to resign and allow Sean to advance the same agenda without the partisan bickering so that the state could move on. But will she get any credit? Don't hold your breath.

People often rake Palin over the coals for not demonstrating a depth of policy knowledge. They complain that she doesn't sit there and wax eloquent about economics and the like. But the most effective things in life are often the simplest. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to understand the concept of not spending more than you're taking in.

I say that the elites who criticize Palin for spouting her common sense "talking points" are guilty of missing the forest for the veins in the tree leaves. They've got their heads so far down into the wiring of the train engine, that they fail to look up and see where the train is going.

Maybe Palin couldn't sit there and spout off a lengthy exposition of how a steam engine works, but she knows how to use it to get where we ought to be. She's a leader. She'll hire engineers to deal with the technical jargon.

In conclusion, enjoy this rant by Glenn Beck about this time last year:

Legislative Session About to Kick Off in Juneau

The Alaska Dispatch (caution: lawmakers slamming Palin) highlights the upcoming legislative session in Juneau, Parnell's first as Governor.

We'll see how it goes. I got a comment on my oil taxes post that Parnell wasn't doing enough fast enough to incentivize exploration. Well, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure there's not much he can do all by himself. He's got to kinda wait for the legislature.

Whether or not he'll be able to cut it, I don't know. Parnell seems to be enjoying the same kind of honeymoon Palin did when she first got in. Lawmakers are swooning over the fact that he's "open" and actually calls them, just like they did when Palin first got in. Kinda makes your stomach turn, but at least the state is moving on.

An election year is upon them, so politics will be involved, of course. But it's ten times less than if Palin were there. If she were still in office, I can pretty much guarantee that the partisanship would be so thick absolutely nothing would get done.

I guess what burns me is that the legislators complain about how Palin didn't call them as much after the election was over, and yet seem to have no comprehension that it was they who had the power to free up her administration from the red tape of the ethics complaints and the FOIA requests so that Palin would have had more time to actually do her job, and yet they sat on it and did nothing.

Politics sucks.

Oh, well. Go Alaska.

KTUU Interview Pt. 1

Part 1 of the KTUU interview is up. It won't let me embed, but you'll find it here. Trig's all squirrely!

History Repeats Itself: Palin and the Alaska GOP

Let's just say, Palin didn't have the most loving relationship with her own party in Alaska. Yet she still ran as a Republican. This is why I doubt she will run as an Independent for 2012. She may, but she's been a thorn in the party's side before and still ran as an "R." Check out these articles, both from the Alaska Report (now hugely anti-Palin). The first one is about Palin's not-so-warm-and-fuzzy relationship with Rep. Don Young at the Alaska Republican Convention:

The second day of the Alaska Republican Convention had some fireworks - a raging Don Young, a surprise announcement, and a more pregnant-looking Sarah Palin getting multiple standing ovations.

The day started off with a gutsy speech by governor Sarah Palin that went directly after the corruption that has plagued the Republican party in Alaska.

"It's kind of, I think we have to acknowledge, it's sort of the big elephant in the room," Palin aimed at the ethically-challenged party head Randy Ruedrich.... "We can't kid ourselves there has not yet been restoration of the public's confidence in the Republican Party and we have got to do better," Palin said to a rousing applause.

"I think we need to call on all of you assembled delegates to rise and, literally even, stand with me if you desire change in our party's leadership," Palin said as many in the crowd rose to applaud. Don Young sat in his seat with a smirk on his face.

Don Young took the stage after Palin and launched a fiery speech. First up, rip Sarah Palin. "We do have a chance in this state and it's not words, it's development of our resources," Young said. "And this is direct criticism of my lieutenant governor and my governor at this time. We have to start investing it's not opening federal lands it's using our state lands."

During the entire Frank Murkowski administration Young never once said anything like that about Murkowki's failure to open ANWR. Nor did he mention his failure after 32 years on [in] office.

Here's the video of Palin asking people to stand up for reform in the party:



Next up, Sarah and Randy Reudrich, Alaska's GOP party chairman:

An anonymous spokesperson (for obvious reasons) told AlaskaReport, Conservatives want our party back. We see a bright future, but only if we can cleanse the party and enact change. At a time when we have the most popular governor in the nation, Ruedrich has failed to communicate with her," apparently since the 2006 election.

Alaska governor Sarah Palin said she favors a change in leadership.

The official Alaskan GOP website fails to include space for a positive mention of the governor, a picture of Palin, and celebrating the new administration's successes to date. No wonder conservatives feel it's time for Ruedrich to leave. They favor the vice chair, Kathy Gissel, stepping up to the chair because she has been uninvolved in the past problems and is highly respected as a hard worker.

A recent non-scientific poll at KTUU.com found 88% saying that the GOP needs a change at the top.

The Republican party in Alaska also did everything they could to keep Palin from winning the GOP primary for Governor. Again, history repeats itself. Here's Palin being asked her opinion of Randy Reudrich. Jump to 4:42. It's priceless:

Will the Madness Never End? 200,000 Square Miles for Polar Bears

I'm adorable; but come any closer and I'll rip your face off.

AP article on the Obama administration's move to designate 200,000 square miles for Polar Bears:

The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely affect critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery....

The total area proposed for critical habitat designation would cover about 200,541 square miles — about half in the rugged Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. About 93 percent of the area proposed for the polar bear is sea ice, with the remaining 7 percent made up of barrier islands or land-based dens of snow and ice.

Designation as critical habitat would not, in itself, bar oil or gas development, but would make consideration of the effect on polar bears and their habitat an explicit part of any government-approved activity.

Thursday's announcement starts a 60-day public comment period, with a final rule expected next year. Interior faces a June 30 deadline for critical habitat designation under terms of a settlement agreement between the government and three environmental groups.

Environmental groups hailed the habitat announcement, but noted that it came in the same week that the Interior Department approved a plan by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell to drill exploratory wells on two leases in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast. The proposed drilling sites are within the area proposed for critical habitat designation....

The announcement comes one day after the state of Alaska filed a new complaint in its effort to overturn the listing of the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin filed suit last year, saying that Interior did not respond to the state's concerns in a timely manner before listing the polar bears as threatened. State officials say the listing could cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, which provide prime habitat for the polar bears.

Gov. Sean Parnell, who succeeded Palin upon her resignation last summer, said the Endangered Species Act was being used as a way to shut down resource development along Alaska's northern coast. Parnell said he does not intend to let that happen.

Here's Governor Palin on Glenn Beck last year (before the VP nomination) talking about the polar bear lawsuit.

Nothing is set in stone just yet; I expect Governor Parnell to come down hard on this, if not Sarah Palin herself.

I'm all for protecting a species, but can we have a modicum of common sense while we do it? Is that too much to ask? (sigh) Apparently.

New Video

Okay, it's actually old. I just added an interview with Sarah and John Binkley on the day of the Republican primary for Governor of Alaska to my You Tube channel. Date was 8-22-06. Sarah, of course, won the primary.

If you're familiar with Sarah's background in Alaska, you'll find part two hillarious - let's just say Sarah's silence speaks volumes. She also answers the burning question of our time: what kind of drink should you buy her?

Alaska Is What America Was

The frustrations of the founding fathers weren't just the negative things like excessive taxation, it was also that the British Empire wouldn't allow the American colonies to do good things.

Did you know that between 1774 and 1775 the first anti-slavery society was founded in the American colonies? Benjamin Rush, Thomas Paine, and Ben Franklin were among its supporters. Here's Thomas Paine's essay on the subject. Great Britain frowned on the movement because the British Empire had slavery. Frustration in the colonies was growing on many fronts.

Alaska became a state in 1959. Since Jimmy Carter they've been trying to make headway with things like resource development in ANWR and other places, but the federal government keeps getting in their way. Alaskans are very independent. The Alaskan Independence Party is the largest third party of any of the states. "Tax" in Alaska is practically a dirty word, and you better not tell an Alaskan what to do.

I don't think it's a mistake that the star shining brightest in politics right now is an Alaskan. Is it a coincidence that just when it seems that the Lower 48 (not all, but enough) have forgotten who we are, here comes someone who was raised with the old frontier spirit of ruggedness and independence to remind us? Alaska is our lode state, just as Polaris is our lode star. As Palin is so fond of saying, "Under this great North Star" we are shown the way back home.

Now, does this mean that Alaska is perfect? Of course not. Liberals seem to delight in pointing out what's wrong with Alaska, what's wrong with this country, what's wrong with Americans in general. I know full well we've got some things to work on, but don't they ever see the good things? They're Puddleglums, only instead of being endearing they're arrogant and spiteful. No thanks. The founding principles of this country are still held dear in the Last Frontier. That's what makes them our lode state right now.

When I say I love my country, I'm not saying that bad things don't happen in it. My country is more than the sum of its events; it is an idea. That's what America is; it's a principle, a desire, an ideal. It is freedom and equality; principles. Have we always lived up to those ideals? No. Alas, we are human. But the principles themselves are no dimmer now than they were in 1776. That is what we cling to, and that is what the Far Left will never understand.

They don't believe in those principles like we do. There is a fundamental disconnect. The George Soroses of this world don't believe in the idea that is America. I have more in common with the people of Iran fighting in the streets for some scrap of freedom than I do with extreme left liberals like this man and his cohorts.

I've often said that if things get bad to the point of absolute tyranny, my last-ditch option is to move to Alaska and secede. Many Alaskans are going "No!" right now because their permanent fund checks will suffer (the more residents, the less money there is to go around). Listen, if I can be free, y'all can keep your checks. I won't ask for one.

Now, I don't think we're anywhere near that point. This good ole' United States has got a lot of life left in it, and I'm nowhere near done fighting for it just yet. Until we get our bearings I'll just borrow some of that good old Alaskan spirit and use it to patch up some of the tears in my flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands:
One nation,
Under God,
Indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.

An Alaskan Fisherman

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman. (As posted in comments on Greta’s article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin) :

The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it…It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.

1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing “la la la la” (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar. But while you’re thinking, I’ll continue.

2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So, she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called “ACES”. Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them “don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.” They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as “pork”. She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the “when-hell-freezes-over” stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning—I imagine—that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed “gosh and golly” mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona . Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

Thanks for the Memories

A brief look back....

Alaska didn't know what it was in for when a former mayor and hockey mom from Wasilla decided to run for Governor.

Despite being an outcast of the party establishment, she defeated the incumbent governor in the Republican primaries.
And moved on to the general election.
She ran a hard-fought and underdog campaign.

And in the end, it paid off.

The new Gov's first order of business - Get rid of that jet!

Next up, let's get that pipeline! She led the way with AGIA and ACES.

She embraced her role as workin' mama.
She stayed in touch with her constituents.



And she went fishing now and then.

She showed continuous love and support for the Alaska National Guard.


And in April, 2008, the Palins welcomed a new little one into the world


When she got tapped to run for VP, her hometown cheered her on.

And after the campaign, her staff welcomed her back to her office...

And the workin' Mama kept on truckin'!

The state finally awarded the AGIA license to TransCanada.

The Gov stood toe to toe with some new critics...

And took the time to lend a helping hand.

On July 26, 2009, after nine months watching state resources go down the drain because of personal political attacks, Sarah handed the reins over to Sean Parnell.

All in all, it's been a good journey.

And maybe a Palin will sit behind the Governor's desk again someday...

Ya never know!

The IBD Says "Drill, Baby, Drill!"

Investor's Business Daily has been a fan of Sarah Palin's energy policies for quite some time. They came out in defense of Palin's op-ed opposing Cap and Trade in an editorial yesterday. The article is here, along with an audio podcast version.

The whole editorial was great, so here it is in its entirety:


"John Kerry, replying to an op-ed Sarah Palin wrote on cap-and-trade, suggests the Alaska governor "check the view from her front porch." What she sees from there, senator, is energy wealth going to waste.

"The political death of Sarah Palin has been greatly exaggerated. In a devastating op-ed in the Washington Post, Alaska's governor exposes the cap-and-tax fraud that has nothing to do with earth's temperature and everything to do with government control of the economy.

"She also exposes the stealth socialism ambitions of the Democratic left and once again points out the availability of abundant "shovel-ready" resources under America's soil, off America's shores and even in America's rocks.

"Judging from the reaction from Sen. Kerry and the political arm of George Soros, one must ask: If Palin is spent as a political force, why is everyone on the left so worried and talking about her?

"Kerry took to the ultraliberal Web site Huffington Post to object to Palin's description of "the president's cap-and-trade energy tax" as "an enormous threat to our economy." In Alaska, she wrote, "we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, energy and security."

"Kerry, who opposed the Cape Wind project off breezy Cape Cod because a wind farm capturing energy from ocean breezes might spoil his view, went ballistic. In a thinly veiled reference to Tina Fey's "Saturday Night Live" skit, he repeated the warm-monger mantra that the "global climate change crisis threatens our economy and national security in profound ways" and that "Gov. Palin need look no further than the view from her front porch in Alaska to see how destructive this crisis can be."

"What Palin sees is a cap-and-tax plan that will result in a "dried-up energy sector" that even the sponsors of the Waxman-Markey bill anticipate, or they wouldn't have included a provision providing $4.2 billion over eight years for newly unemployed energy workers.

"It's not just the energy sector that will be devastated. Palin notes that "even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan." We have cited an analysis of Waxman-Markey by the Heritage Foundation that found unemployment will increase by nearly 2 million in 2012, the first year of the program, and reach nearly 2.5 million in 2035. Total GDP loss by 2035 would be $9.4 trillion.

"Kerry responded that Palin failed to mention that "jobs in our emerging clean energy economy grew nearly 2 1/2 times faster than overall jobs since 1998." That's easy when you start from almost zero. Note that 1998 is also the year the earth started cooling, with not a warmer year since. There's even been snow in Malibu.

"From Palin's front porch, senator, she can see "the largest private-sector energy project in history" — her "3,000-mile natural gas pipeline (that) will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America."

"From Palin's front porch you can also see the 2,000-acre part of ANWR's frozen tundra that contains 10.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil (such estimates often underestimate actual yields) and that could supply all the oil needs of Kerry's Massachusetts for 75 years.

"And from her front porch, Palin can see the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska's landmass. Awaiting development there, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, are 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or 30% of the world's supply, and 83 billion barrels of oil, 4% of global conventional resources.

"MoveOn.org began e-mailing members Tuesday, asking them to fund a rapid response ad blasting Palin's op-ed. Soros' group said Palin was positioning herself as the face of conservative opposition to Obama's energy policy, telling supporters her op-ed was "a marvel of misinformation and outright lies."

"What really hurts is Palin's truth. Kerry and MoveOn.org say Sarah Palin must be stopped. We say, drill, baby, drill."