“Liability” Don Young Faces Ethics Probe

December 7, 2011By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured

Alaskans are beginning to ask the multi-million dollar question about their veteran politician, and oil-industry stooge, Don Young. At the end of last month, one journalist writing for the Alaskan Dispatch newspaper asked “Are Don Young’s political antics an Alaska asset or liability?” The trouble for Alaskans is that Young, whose slogan is the “Congressman … Read More

Good Riddance, Uncle Ted

November 20, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

So ends a political era. The Alaskan senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history and a force on Capitol Hill for decades, yesterday finally conceded the re-election race to his Democratic rival, Mayor Mark Begich. This brings us to the end of the “Uncle Ted” era in Alaska, when billions of  Stevens’s “pork-barrel” … Read More

Bush: Open ANWR to Ease Gas Crisis

April 30, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post 3 Comments

Like a record stuck in a bad groove, President Bush has reiterated his call for Congress to open more areas for drilling, including ANWR. “If Congress is truly interested in solving the problem, they can send the right signal by saying we’re going to explore for oil and gas in the U.S. territories,” starting with … Read More

Land Deal Could Open Alaskan Refuge to Drilling

March 26, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

A controversial land swap proposal could open portions of an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, but the scheme is already dividing native Alaskans. Supporters of the plan to exchange land in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, which lies just south of the more-famous ANWR, want the plan approved before the pro-oil Bush Administration … Read More

Democrats Unveil New Energy Tax Package

February 13, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post, Separate Oil and State

In the US, Democrats have unveiled a new wide-ranging, $17.5 billion renewable energy and building-efficiency bill even though Republicans have repeatedly blocked their efforts in the Senate. In renewing their push, Democrats are relying on the same financing plan that produced Senate opposition last year, repealing tax breaks granted to oil and gas companies.

Shell Hires ANWR Drilling Advocates

February 6, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Ok – so not to be outdone by Exxon that hired Bush advisor Philip Cooney, the former chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Shell has now appointed Gale Norton, a former interior secretary for the Bush administration, as a senior legal advisor. Gale Norton supports opening up the Arctic National … Read More

Democrats Move to Protect ANWR

January 8, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

The Anchorage Daily News reports how “opponents of oil drilling in ANWR – the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – are going on the offense after playing defense for a quarter of a century. They want the new Democratic Congress to make an oft-challenged drilling ban permanent.