While there are possibilities in Cook Inlet, ANWR is the hot property now. We have been trying to get access to this area for 30 years, but the bunny huggers won't allow it. Most of these morons don't even know what ANWR is, but they want to prevent us from using our resources for our own good.
The other big deal is the natural gas pipeline from the slope to somewhere. The oil companies would like to send the gas straight to Chicago. We in the Cook Inlet area would like to see it come to tidewater here. We have an existing LNG plant which will have to shut down by 2009 unless more gas can be produced at an economic rate. Local sources cannot meet the criteria. We have gas, but it is too expensive for the industrial applications such as the fertilizer plant, currently owned by Agrium, which has been an anchor for the local economy for 40 years. They will close this November, taking a direct $230,000,000 per year payroll and indirect losses even greater from the local economy. Gas from the slope could revive this operation, as well as the Conoco-Phillips LNG plant.
These are the real issues where I live. You must see why AKOL annoys me so much. As far as I can see, they're white collar criminals. I wish they would prove me wrong.