A Citizen’s Guide

A Washington advocacy group wants Gov. Palin to immediately reject Sinopec’s bid because of the Chinese oil company’s ties to Sudan.

The Genocide Intervention Network believes money from the Sudanese oil industry fuels the conflict in the Darfur region of the country. In a letter to the governor, they said Palin has “the unique opportunity to send a message that will reverberate far beyond the borders of Alaska, or even America” by rejecting the bid.

Marty Rutherford, a deputy commissioner of natural resources, responded to the letter, basically telling the group to wait for the comment period.

But the group points to legislation working through Congress that would prohibit the federal government from contracting with certain companies involved in Sudan.

“For Alaska to even consider this bid wouldn’t seem right,” said Sam Bell, advocacy director with the Genocide Intervention Network.

If Sinopec wins AGIA, it plans to work with a local company called the Little Susitna Development Co., the state told us Friday night.

The Anchorage Daily News reported this morning that the State mis-spoke. It’s actually the Little Susitna Construction Company, Inc.

According to the company’s Web site, Little Susitna is run by Dominic S.F. Lee, a Hong Kong native who came to the United States in 1962 and studied engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage, among other places. He started Little Susitna in 1980.

The company did a big infrastructure project for Arco on the North Slope, but doesn’t list any pipeline work on their site.

The site mention plans to expand across the Pacific Rim and notes that Little Susitna visited China as a consultant on the Three Gorges Dam.

ANCHORAGE — A major Midwest energy company said it did not submit an application to build a natural gas pipeline tapping Alaska North Slope reserves because of criminal investigations of state politicians, performance lapses by a major oil producer and other factors.

In a letter Friday to Gov. Sarah Palin, the chief executive of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. explained why his company did not apply.

“As you are painfully aware the ongoing corruption investigations coupled with previous indictments, guilty pleas and convictions draw into question virtually every major Alaskan project participant and governmental levels from State to Federal,” said the letter from MidAmerican CEO David Sokol. “Obviously your administration had no involvement in these previous shenanigans nor did we; however, you and we alone cannot develop the pipeline project through AGIA’s expected process.” Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Halcro, former state lawmaker, independent candidate for governor, and active blogger, will be in Fairbanks on Wednesday to give a talk at an Alliance luncheon. (Alaska Support Industry Alliance, that is.)

Halcro has been an active critic of Palin’s approach to getting a gas line, largely through his blog. Lots of information, lots of opinion. Read the rest of this entry »

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., the Midwestern energy company and subsidiary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, didn’t apply under AGIA, as many had expected and they themselves had suggested.

On Friday, company CEO David Sokol cited the ongoing corruption scandal in the state and sticky points with some of the major producers in explaining why his company stayed home. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the big mysteries from the AGIA announcement on Friday night is background of a company called AEnergia LLC.

The company is based in California, but recently set up shop in Alaska.

The two “organizers” of the company are Bill Burkhard and Andrew Taber.

Burkhard works with a company called GSS/TC based out of Sacramento.

Some of the information online suggests he’s been thinking about a natural gas project in Alaska for maybe five years. Maybe more?