11/1/03
This week I looked more into the books that I got from the
libary as well as look at documents that I found on the web.
The books are giving a very general feel on the different issues
with oil companies that are out there. I will summarize what
I have found from these books later when I have read more into
them. I can summarize what I have found on the web, because
those documents take a significantly less amount of time to
go through.
Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
2002 Annual Report
http://www.asrc.com/%5Cpdfs%5Casrc2002.pdf
“ASRC will continue to advocate for development of our
resources in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR), but ANWR is not the only egg in the basket. With
opposition in Congress still a barrier to ANWR, oil industry
attention is now focusing on the National Petroleum Reserve
– Alaska (NPR-A). The Company strongly supports exploration
and development in the NPR-A because of the jobs and other economic
boost it would give to our region.” pg. 4
ASRC and Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation (KIC) own 92,000 acres
in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR).
I went to this page and would like the two people who gave
us a speech on how to write surveys to look at it and say if
it is biased to give a certain answer. I just have to find their
e-mail addresses again and ask them. Or ask the group if they
have survey experience.
http://www.kaktovik.com/anwr_survey.htm
My main contact with this company in my opinion will be Oiliver
Leavitt who is in charge of Government Affairs, or Karen Burnell
who is the Human Resources person. I just am not sure exactly
what I would ask them at this current time.
“Tripped
Up by Partisan Politics, Energy Bill Vote Gets Delayed”
by Manimoli Dinesh and Christian Schmollinger
Copyright 2003 Energy Intelligence Group, Inc.
Natural Gas Week
Repulican leaders abandoned the October 3 deadline for the
final broad energy bill because of Democratic descent and struggles
within their own party. It has been pushed until the third week
of October. Senate Democrats will likely filibuster legislation
that has to do with ANWR. Republicans have not allowed Democrats
to be involved in the discussions around this legislation, which
will more than likely prevent a bill from being passed this
year. There is an issue with funding as well. They would need
a “floor tax credit” to be in place in order for
anything to happen.
ASRC Aerospace Corporation
http://www.akspace.com
ASRC was formed in 1997 and is a branch off of the Arctic Slope
Regional Corporation. They have 15 major contracts and a base
of 700 personnel. They receive $1 billion from the ASRC that
they use to work with other contracts. It is classified as an
8(a), Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), Small Disadvantaged Business
(SDB). This lets the Federal Government to give ASRC sole-source
contacts.
10/19/03
I went to the library fianlly and found about six books that
pertain to how the government deals with oil companies both
in foreign and local affairs. I will continue to look at them
more this week, and next week, but I know that my researching
is supposed to come to a close at some point in the near future
as well.
10/12/03
I recieved a pamphlet in the mail by request from the American
Petroleum Institute the other day. I requested it when I was
searching around on their website, and happened across a description
of it and an e-mail adress to be able to recieve one. It is
called "New Perspectives" and it is speaking on how
the oil and gas industries are looking for solutions to make
the environment a cleaner place, while still being able to supply
the nation and world with efficient and cheep gas and oil. Two
were sent to me, and the other pamphlet is already circulating
with another group, as will the one I am currently looking at
as soon as I am finished reading it (if this isn't this weekend...someone
please yell at me and hit me very hard...thank you).
"The oil and natural gas industry....is continually looking
for ways to further protcet and improve the human and natural
environment, while producing the life-saving products that we
all need in our daily lives." (p. 3) This I feel sums up
the entire purpose of this pamphlet. The coorporations are working
together and with the government to make sure that the environment
stays as clean as possible. They spent "$7.8 billon "
in 2000 in "environmental investments" (p. 3) This
went towards exploration, production, transportation, and refining
tecuniques all concentrating on making everything more environmentally
safe. Because of these and other efforts, "polution levels
are decreasing" even as consumption and need grows (p.
3).
The Clean Air Act in 1970 has caused refineries and gas emissions
to have to decrease, and the improvements made by the oil and
gas industries has made this possible. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has made many statistics that will be good
to look at from the source. The amount of catasrtophic environmental
incidents (namely oil spills) have also gone down. Spills are
much smaller than they used to be and the large spills are less
frequent (p. 5) Also the techniques for cleaning up the spilt
oil has improved so more waste can be removed.
Waste from oil exploration and drilling has been reduced due
to advances such as "3D seismic imaging techniques and
directional drilling." (p. 6). Drilling is also able to
be unnoticable. For example in Long Beach, California a massive
drilling opporation where the companies made islands to place
every step of the oporation. According to the pamphlet, "operation
takes place so unobtrusively that longtime residents forget
it's there." (p. 7).
Innovations such as said above have allowed specific oil pools
to be specifically pinpointed, and extracted without as large
of a "footprint" to be left on the land (p. 8). For
example Prudhoe Bay, Alaska has a 5,000 acre area taken over
by production, and if it were rebuilt today the area would be
reduced by 60 percent (p 8). There are also people looking out
for the environment who inspect miles upon miles of pipelines
that are all around the nation, checking for potential leaks
and hazards using a sensoring system called "smart pigs"(p
9).
The refineries are also reducing wastes and emissions. In 2000
they were only "responsible for less than 1 percent of
the regulated chemicals emitted by US industries " and
are now "recycling more than 60 percent of the wastes they
created." (p 10-11).
9/26/03
I am in charge of finding the various viewpoints held by coorporations
and the government of drilling in ANWR on the North Slope.
I have found that the companies believe that drilling in this
region will do many things for the economy of Alaska, and the
entire nation. They also believe that their methods of
exploration, extraction and production is becoming continually
more efficient and safe for the environment.
10/1/03
In our group meeting we discussed exactly what we needed to
find out for the assignment. We looked at our specific agenda
as written on the Mission page, and those of the groups around
us. We decided that we may be covering more information than
is absolutely necessary, because it is being covered by another
group already. We decided that we do not need to look at the
entire United State's point of view on the subject, but need
to focus more on the Alaskan people and their perspectives.
I will now be researching corporations based in Alaska, or directly
related to the oil coming from ANWR. I will still look at the
major oil companies of America, including the American Petroleum
Institute.
I have continued to research more sites for information, but
have not really done anything with the information I found.
I found the Alaska Department of Natural Resources web site,
and it is jam packed with information. I am particulary looking
at "2002 Annual Report", and the "Final Finding
and Determination for a Solicitation for Offers to Purchase
Alaska North Slope Royalty Gas." They look like they cover
the subjects of how much oil has been in each area of the North
slope, and all of the legistics involved with drilling there.
It is a lot of legal mumbo jumbo that I believe will be extremely
helpful. It will tell me how the government is interacting with
the oil drilling companies and the total benefits and costs
from the government, and coorporation standpoint.
I will need to speak more to the groups in dealing with the
government and the coorporations, including group 2-3 who is
looking at how to drill for oil to make sure that I am not overlapping
anything that they are also currently researching.
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