As We Celebrate Anniversaries, Let’s Celebrate The Industry That Sustains Our Way of Life!

By Dave Harbour
Publisher Northern Gas Pipelines

All Alaskans are thankful for Alaska's 50th Anniversary of statehood this year made possible by the earlier, 1957 Swanson River oil and gas discovery. Therefore, we should also be thankful for Alaska's oil industry and support industry employees whose labors sustain our current quality of life.

We are also celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the very important Joint State/Federal Beaufort Sea Oil and Gas Lease Sale of 1979--the first time Beaufort Sea OCS became available to leasing. Those of us who witnessed the hearings and sale will never forget the feeling of those events' historical importance! We should also shout kudos to members of the ALASKA SUPPORT INDUSTRY ALLIANCE, whose pioneering members testified and picketed and otherwise successfully supported that 1979 lease sale. What a joy it will be to join Alliance members and supporters at the 30th Anniversary Annual Meeting on September 30!

It is hard to imagine what Alaska and America would be--what we would be and where we would be--without Swanson River. It is an equally awesome task to contemplate Alaska's quality of life and our own circumstances without the safe and bountiful Beaufort Sea oil and gas exploration and development activity which has sustained the life of the Trans Alaska Pipeline since 1979 and will help support a future gas pipeline.

BUT OUR CHILDREN MAY NOT HAVE SUCH ADVANTAGES, IF WE ARE NOT SUCCESSFUL IN CONTINUING TO SECURE OCS LEASE SALES, WITH REVENUE SHARING.

With ANWR's remote prospects, with declining TAPS throughput, with plans for an ANS gas pipeline still years away, Outer Continental Shelf exploration and development stands like a warm but lonely beacon of light in the Arctic night!

This Monday--today--is the deadline date Secretary Salazar (NGP Photo during 4-09 Anchorage visit) has set for receipt of comments on the MMS 2010-2015 OCS lease sale plan. I know most Alaskans--good Americans that we are--have taken advantage of the comment period. Like you, I've tried to do my part by assisting hundreds of Alaskans in sending in their comments.

Here is a last reminder to Standard readers that your comment will help in the decision process. If you haven't already sent in a card or letter, please postmark a short letter or post card TODAY BY MIDNIGHT indicating your support of an aggressive 2010-2015 oil and gas leasing program. You can cite benefits that will include: a real stimulus to America's economy, up to 30,000 annual jobs here and many more indirect jobs nationally, improved balance of trade position, more energy independence and better national security, and more....

Send your postcard or letter to:

Ms. Renee Orr
MMS-MS 4010
381 Elden St.
Herndon, VA 20170-4817

In the first sentence, say you are writing about "2010-2015 Oil and Gas Leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf” and include your name and return address. Here’s a good link at the Resource Development Council for Alaska, if you’d like more help and information: http://www.akrdc.org/alerts/2009/ocsenergyhearing.html.

Maybe the best way we can celebrate Statehood and the oil and gas effort that made our way of life possible is to take a few minutes to write and postmark that simple letter…today, by midnight. That little note may also be the best way to secure the futures of our kids and grandkids!

Just think, a little note could be part of your legacy, or not.