In a recent article in the August 2010 issues of Alaska Business Monthly, Mike Bradner notes that the combination of high taxes - some of the world's highest - high cost of working in remote areas, modest prospects for discovery onshore, and one of the nation's toughest regulatory regimes may have created the "perfect storm" in driving off new petroleum industry investment. Since oil pays for about 90 percent of the state's budget, Alaskans would be faced with "steep reductions in public services, ruinous taxes and a likely end to the popular Permanent Fund Dividend" if oil production continues to decline. In his article, Bradner reviews oil industry projects in Alaska and highlights concerns about declining throughput in the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
Bradner writes "One can't change the facts of geography and high costs, but some of the biggest impediments to new oil development are government-made." Read the full article below.
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