Governor Palin Takes the Helm at Interstate Oil and Gas

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska Tuesday addressed the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) in New Orleans. Governor Palin has recently taken on the chairmanship of the Commission which is a multi-state government agency that tries to promote the responsible use of oil and gas from national sources within our country. The Commission’s 30+ member states try to forward rational energy policy on local as well as national levels of government.

The Governor’s speech stressed that “Americans can no longer afford to warehouse Alaska’s vast resources.” “Alaska will play an increasingly important role in oil and gas production within the United States,” said Palin.

“We’ve developed only a fraction of our known reserves, and have many times this known amount awaiting discovery and commercialization.” This, primarily in reference to Arctic oil and gas reserves in the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska (NPR-A) and the yet to be tapped “10-02 Area” of ANWR.

“The same foreign powers that control the world’s oil supply are beginning to control the supply of natural gas,” she said. “Alaska stands ready and able to supply our fellow Americans with an abundant, cheap clean source of energy for the future.”

The Governor talked extensively on the State’s most recent project of building a natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez following the current Trans-Alaska oil Pipeline. Natural gas, which along with water, is mixed in with oil and is currently pumped back into the ground. This is done simply because no way to get the gas to market exists and also it serves to increase the pressure of oil reservoirs for more complete extraction. Alaska has more potential natural gas reserves than any other state in the nation.

The Alaska Governor signed a memorandum of understanding with North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to improve regulatory cooperation between states and improve interstate governance and communication with FERC.
For more information on this event and other oil and gas related issue visit the IOGCC web site at http://www.iogcc.state.ok.us/

Here are some images of Gov. Sarah Palin.