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  JUNEAU, Alaska The city of Valdez plans to spend up to $900,000 to try to defeat a bill aimed at advancing an in-state natural gas pipeline project.City manager John Hozey said a large-scale line capable of feeding overseas exports makes more sense for Alaska.Valdez has hoped to be the terminus for a major line, when and if one gets built, but Hozey said the PR campaign - including ads and a website - is geared at supporting what Valdez believes to be the better project. The city is using money it has won in challenges over taxation of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline to fund the effort, he said."We will only have one opportunity to build the gas line that will bring low-cost energy to all Alaskans ... and bring revenue to the state to fund all the things that are important to all of us," like education, transportation and public safety, he said. "If we blow our chance on this (smaller) line, then we've lost our future."A number of other communities and groups have expressed support for the in-state gas bill, HB4, including an Anchorage energy task force, the city of Fairbanks, the mayor of the North Slope Borough, resource development groups and chambers of commerce. Hozey said he worries that communities aren't getting the full picture.House Speaker Mike Chenault, a primary sponsor of HB4, sees the smaller line as a project that has momentum. He said the bill would provide the tools needed for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., or AGDC, the group behind efforts to advance the line, to get to an open season. An open season is a period during which gas producers commit to using a pipeline, so officials can determine if there is sufficient interest for a project to move forward.A similar effort stalled in the Senate last year, amid concerns including the powers that would be given to AGDC, the cost to the build the line, and what customers would ultimately pay. Some of those same concerns persist as the bill is heard in the House with about 3 1/2 weeks left in the le cheap toms online gislative session.Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, said the proposal gives him "serious heartburn" and would give "too much away" to get to an open season.Under the bill, AGDC, now a subsidiary of the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., would be made an independent public corporation overseen by a board confirmed by the Legislature. Its powers would include the ability to determine ownership of a pipeline developed by the corporation; plan, finance and build a pipeline system; issue bonds for project financing; and exercise eminent domain to acquire land deemed necessary for the pipeline.Gov. Sean Parnell said Thursday he supports moving the project forward but has some concerns with HB4 that must be addressed first, including the makeup of the board and regulatory provisions."There needs to be accountability for the cost of gas to Alaskans, so this corporation cannot just go out and finance a pipeline and charge Alaskans through the nose for Alaskans' gas," he said. He also thinks there should be some commissioners on the board to help make it more accountable.Parnell said he has been working with the bill's sponsors and shares their goal "to get gas to Alaskans first."Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, told the House Finance Committee Thursday that HB4 is about "taking care of Alaskans first, not taking care toms outlet online of Asian markets.""HB 4 provides AGDC the authority and resources to develop, finance, and operate a 500-milli http://www.2013tomshoes.net on-cubic-feet-per-day gas pipeline from the North Slope, serving Fairbanks and Southcentral, at the lowest possible cost, without delay," he said in a separate sponsor statement.Chenault, R-Nikiski, said he thinks the bill has a reasonable chance of passing. "If it does, we think we've got probably the best shot in a number of years of actually getting a project to sanction and getting a project built," he said.If it doesn't, he said the project timeline could slip by at least another year.---Follow Becky Bohrer at http://twitter.com/beckybohrerap.---Online:HB4: http://bit.ly/Yd2xteWebsite opposing HB4: http://akmvp.com

  russellsmith Monday, 25 March 2013 21:24 Comment Link
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  India : Pico Hydro Electric projects (India)]Al Bawaba Ltd.Status: Planning StageCapacity: Upto 5 MW each plantLocation: Idukki and Wayanad districts in Kerala.Nodal Agency: The Energy Management Centre, Kerala will identify potential investor for setting up the projects.Current Status: As of January 2013, The Ministry of New Renewable Energy (MNRE) has sanctioned Central Financial Assistance at the rate of Rs. 1,10,000 per project and 50 Pico hydro electric plants in Kerala during the year 2012-13. Central Financial assistance will be given to 50 projects on a first-come-first-served basis. The scheme is applicable to projects undertaken by individuals, government departments or local bodies, cooperatives and NGOs. Proposals for Pico hydro electric power schemes owned by women, women entrepreneurs or NGOs run by women will be given preference. The grant in aid will be provided to 50 eligible beneficiaries after successful completion of such schemes on or before October 31, 2013 on a first-come first-served basiscountry :India

  justinfloyd Tuesday, 26 March 2013 05:00 Comment Link
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  Left: akulikuli in the wild: right in a dish at Vintage Cave When with Vintage Cave Honolulu chef Chris Kajioka, the menu included a Kelly green dish of greens and abalone bites coated in watercress puree and dotted with akulikuli freshly picked at Paepae o Heeia in Kaneohe and on the North Shore. The bulbous leaves added a delightful crunch to the composition. The two chefs, led by Taste chef Mark Noguchi, spent a morning on the Windward side sourcing ingredients. When Noguchi pointed out the akulikuli, also known as sea beans and sea purslane, Wetzel perked up and said Lummi Island has its own variety that he uses. What does Kajioka like about akulikuli? The texture is really nice, they re crunchy, but the salinity isn t too strong. It s clean, oceany, almost like a succulent it s r http://www.christianeoutlet.co.uk efr christian louboutin outle eshing. Blaine Wetzel and his girlfriend Raquel Ruiz Diaz harvesting sea beans at Paepae o Heeia. You can add that refreshing touch to your own concoctions at home. Kajioka suggests adding sea beans to salads for a pop of texture, and using it in poke as a substitute for ogo, which the chef notes can sometimes have an almost hard, unpleasant bite. He also likes how fresh-picked sea beans last for weeks in a container in the refrigerator. Noguchi likes to pickle the beans with ume, shiso and rice vinegar, and add them to salads. When he salted them, it took two days before the thing started to pull water. It shows how sturdy the product can be. It maintains its structure, integrity and punch when pickled. He also uses sea beans as a counterpart to tomatoes. Best of all, sea beans are free. For budding foragers, this is a good ingredient to start off with. Noguchi says they can be found in town at the Kaiser Bowl end of Ala Moana beach, all over the North Shore, and if you contact Paepae o He eia (236-6178, paepaeoheeia.org) in advance and christian louboutin outle ask nicely of you can come and harvest some of the akulikuli surrounding the fish pond, they ll probably say yes. Once you start looking for it and using it, says Noguchi, you realize it s all over the place. Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2013 in

  angelmitchell Tuesday, 26 March 2013 12:33 Comment Link
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  JUNEAU Sticker shock over how much the Senate Finance Committee's version of Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell's oil tax bill would cost the state led senators to regroup and roll out a new bill late Thursday afternoon that doesn't cut taxes as deeply.Just before 8:30 p.m., the new version cleared the committee. Senators expect to debate it on the floor Monday.Earlier, executives with the three major oil producers on Alaska's North Slope testified Thursday evening that the fresh proposal doesn't provide big enough tax breaks and said they couldn't promise big new investment in Alaska if it passes. But representatives of BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil also said the measure makes Alaska more attractive than the current tax regime, though they differed on some particulars.Consultants told legislators they are on the right track."I hear a combination of excitement and 'Gee, can I get a better deal?' " Barry Pulliam, managing director of Econ One Research, the Parnell administration's oil consultant, testified.But legislators expressed disappointment that they couldn't get commitments of more Alaska investments -- and therefore more Alaska oil production -- from the industry representatives in return for the tax breaks they were offering."It's a tough lift for some of us," freshman Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, told ConocoPhillips representatives, who like the other executives testified by phone. "You need to understand the position that I'm in.""When are they going to stop saying they want more, in your opinion?" Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, asked Pulliam."They view this as a process. They want to have the best possible rates they can get," said Pulliam, who has worked as an oil economics adviser for Alaska for a couple of decades.The newest Finance Committee measure would cost the state treasury between $465 million and $665 million the first full year and toms outlet online as much as $1.3 billion by 2019, according to estimates by the state Department of Revenue. That compares to $1 billion to $1.8 billion a year under the bill presented earlier in the week. The previous version was the most expensive oil tax bill proposed so far this legislative session, even more than Parnell's measure."Clearly yesterday, there were a lot of pale faces at the table," Sen Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said Thursday afternoon. He has been watching from the sidelines after being the Senate's leading player on oil taxes in the last Legislature.At least 11 senators, more than half the Senate, sat in on Thursday evening's Finance Committee hearing. Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, isn't on the panel but at one point sat at the committee table to urge the group to include her proposal for an "oil and gas competitiveness review board" that would make written recommendations to the Legislature annually. The committee did so.The new Senate Bill 21 sets a 35 percent flat tax for the first three years, along with a $5-per-barrel credit, the same as what the Senate Resources Committee had proposed. But after three years, long enough for some new sources of oil to be produced, the flat tax would drop to 33 percent.The earlier, bigger proposed tax cut set a 30 percent flat tax rate. BP's Damien Bilbao reminded the Finance Committee that its own consultants said the 30 percent rate put Alaska in the middle of the pack among other oil-producing regions.The current tax system, known as Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share, starts with a 25 percent base rate that increases as oil prices rise.Parnell wants to cut oil taxes to spur oil companies to invest in new toms outlet projects and reverse a decline in production. But skeptics, including a number of Democrats in the Legislature, say the state may give the oil industry huge tax breaks with no guarantee of new production. The House is waiting for the Senate to act.Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said that under the new version of the bill, oil companies still would get huge tax breaks for producing barrels of oil that already are in development plans.While the latest version is better, "you're still giving away billions of dollars," Wielechowski said. "It's still a massive giveaway, in my opinion."To make up for $5.7 billion in tax cuts in the first six years, oil companies will need to produce more than 90,000 additional barrels a day that could be taxed under the new regime, Pulliam told legislators Thursday night.Members of GOP-controlled caucus t toms shoes outlet hat runs the Senate met earlier Thursday to discuss the bill.Thursday's version "will appease the majority. Whether we'll get everybody, it's doubtful," Sen. Kevin Meyer, a Republican from Anchorage who co-chairs the Finance Committee, said in a briefing with a couple of reporters Thursday afternoon.But Senate leaders also thought they had a deal on oil taxes last year, only to see it crumble.Meyer and Sen. Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River and a member of all three committees that have considered the oil tax legislation this year, met earlier on Thursday with representatives of BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil."We were telling them, 'look, dammit. We need something to hang our hat on,' as to if we make these changes, what are you going to do?" Meyer said.The most controversial aspect of the tax measure continues to be an additional tax break for oil production from new areas that Wielechowski said works out to an additional 40 percent cut by excluding a portion of the new oil revenue from taxes. Under Thursday's proposal, that new tax break would last forever.The Senate Finance Committee proposes to extend that benefit even to the aging giant fields of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk. Democrats say it's too far generous. House minority leader Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, calls it a ticking time bomb.Joe Balash, deputy national resources commissioner, said his department will be responsible for evaluating oil company requests for that extra tax break, called the gross revenue exclusion.For the giant legacy fields, the operators will have to submit current 3-D seismic data and that from years earlier to prove that the new wells won't extract oil already part of the currently producing reservoir, he said.Reach reporter Lisa Demer at or 952-3965.

  russellsmith Tuesday, 26 March 2013 14:35 Comment Link
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  tammylleanne Sunday, 19 May 2013 14:08 Comment Link