Anchorage Daily News

Gazprom wants to join Alaska's pipeline party. There was a faint note late last week, a small message surfacing that Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant, had an interest in partnering on Alaska's natural gas pipeline development. This week, the reports have turned more solid.

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Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, right, pictured with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a former Gazprom chairman, could lead his company into talks with TransCanada Corp. on its Alaska pipeline plan. (Natalia Kolesknikova, Agence France-Presse, Getty Images)

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CNN.Money.com quotes a Gazprom executive saying his company wants to partner with ConocoPhillips and BP on their pipeline, which is independent of AGIA, the TransCanada proposal supported by the Palin administration and under discussion in a special session of the state legislature.

"So far we aren't in discussions," but Gazprom is "ready to be partners if the partners have good proposals," said Vlada Rusakova, a member of Gazprom's management team.

Reuters reports that Gazprom's chief, Alexei Miller, has already made a pitch to join in on the independent pipeline project. TransCanada told the Calgary Herald this morning that it's totally bewildered by reports that Gazprom seeks to partner with them.

"All I've seen are the press articles. TransCanada has not been approached by Gazprom," said Tony Palmer of TransCanada. And yet, Bloomberg reported during the weekend that Gazprom executive Alexander Medvedev said talks with ConocoPhillips were under way already and would soon start with TransCanada.

Lanny Pendill, an energy analyst with Edward Jones in St. Louis, said it looks like Gazprom is "playing politics" to get in the door on the U.S. gas market

"I'm not sure they really help anything because everyone knows the Russians are unreliable," Pendill said.

Meanwhile, Forbes.com reports that Miller announced Saturday in France that Gazprom aims to become "the world's biggest company with market capitalization of $1 trillion within 7 to 10 years."

***

Snow in the mountains above Seattle? You've got to be kidding. We know it has been a cold spring here. Farmers in the Valley have had to hold off planting awhile, and what's in the ground is growing at a snail's pace because of chilly soil temperatures.

Monday night, forecasters issued a heavy snow warning for the Washington Cascades and Olympics after a Gulf of Alaska storm headed their way. The Seattle Times reports that Seattle had its coldest first week in June since 1891.

***

The gas pipeline show heads to Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports that as legislators gather in Fairbanks for several days of hearings on AGIA later this week, Rep. Jay Ramras and mayors from surrounding authorities are organizing a Thursday afternoon public rally over energy.

"The purpose is to ensure that all of the Legislature understands the energy situation that we have in Fairbanks," borough Mayor Jim Whitaker said Monday.

Ramras says he's trying hard not to politicize the hearings, but he also wants to "put a human face on the energy plight of Fairbanks."

***

Sentiments are shifting over the all-Alaska pipeline to Valdez. It's a surprise, but apparently a fact. According to the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, borough Mayor Jim Whitaker has come out in support of Gov. Sarah Palin's TransCanada proposal, backing away from an Alaska Gasline Port Authority bid for a pipeline to Valdez and liquefied natural gas tankers.

The Juneau Empire notes that Gov. Palin began her bid for governor supporting the plan to bring Alaska gas to market with a pipeline to Valdez. Now, of course, she has switched to an overland route, calling it cheaper.

"It was surprising to see how obvious it was that the overland (route) was much more economic," she said.

Still, her administration is keeping the door open.

Pat Galvin, commissioner of the Department of Revenue, held out hope that an LNG export option could come in the future, in conjunction with an overland pipeline.

"The findings are being portrayed as the death knell of LNG," Galvin said, but that's not the case at all. What's known as a "Y" line splitting off from the main overland line and bringing gas to Valdez still holds great promise, he said.

"Overland going first gives us a leg up," Galvin said.

***

Sen. Ted Stevens calls for oversight of speculative energy markets. The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports that a bipartisan group of senators is calling for a curb on oil speculation, now being blamed for high oil prices.

"Oil has become the new gold -- a financial asset in which investors seek refuge as inflation rises and the dollar weakens," energy market analyst Daniel Yergin said

"The skyrocketing price of oil is driving up the cost of gas and goods, and Alaskans are hurting because of it," Stevens said.

***

Alaska's growing mortgage delinquencies get noticed. A report released Monday by the consumer credit bureau TransUnion noted that mortgage delinquencies nationally had increased for the fifth straight quarter and stated with some surprise:

"Delinquencies grew the fastest in Alaska, of all places, during the first quarter -- rising 28.4 percent, enough to top rising delinquencies in California, which saw DQs jump 25.4 percent, and Nevada, where DQs jump 24.1 percent."

The report was analyzed by Housingwire.com,

***

Fishermen unhappy over crab rationalization. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council got an earful from Kodiak crabbers over Bering Sea /Aleutian Islands crab rationalization, arguing that leaving work crews out is unfair, reported the Kodiak Daily Mirror.

"I've taken this crab thing very personal," fisherman Gene LeDoux said. "When you allocated one pound to a foreign processor over giving a pound to me or any of these other guys that have given their whole life to this, you've crossed the line with me. We're hurting. We're not a lot of dumb crack addicts like we've been portrayed."

***

Bristol Bay's story, told as "Red Gold," premiers at Telluride Mountainfilm. The film over the mining/fishing conflict in Western Alaska, took the festival director award and the audience award. Now you can see a trailer at this travel and outdoors site, Newwest.net.

According to filmmakers Ben Knight and Travis Rummel, they aimed to tell the Bristol Bay story with no narration but by simply using the voices of stakeholders.

"I wanted people to tell the story the way they wanted it to be heard," he said in an interview following the award's ceremony at Telluride Mountainfilm.

***

Agricultural pesticides may harm salmon sense of smell. A university study out of British Columbia says even diluted amounts of pesticides in river water make it impossible for salmon stock to detect their predators, reports Newscientist.com.

"You can imagine if a fish is unable to detect just how close it is to a (wading) bear, it's a problem," says Keith Tierney, a toxicologist who led the study. A depressed sense of smell might also make it hard to find mates and food.

The tests were done on Steelhead rainbow trout. Because they are closely related to salmon, researchers have a theory that pesticides may be a cause of plummeting salmon stocks in Canada and the U.S.

***

Fred Meyer is testing vinyl records in Alaska stores. It's apparently too early to throw out that old turntable. The Associated Press reports that an ordering mistake by a Fred Meyer employee for the new R.E.M. release "Accelerate" lead to vinyl discs being delivered at a number of stores. Stockers loaded the shelves, and surprise, consumers flocked to buy them.

Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The company says it plans to roll out vinyl in July in all its stores that sell music.

In other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

< Conservation groups announce plans for polar bear lawsuit (Fairbanks Daily News Miner)

< Senate debates higher profits tax on oil companies. (Associated Press)

< Alaska Airlines adds winter seats to Hawaii. (About.com)

< Flat tourist season anticipated in Alaska (Associated Press)

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