Anchorage Daily News

Alaska's oil production falls about 6 percent each year

I found your news article saying September North Slope oil production was up 18 percent to be misleading, and a quite useless piece of information.

September should not be compared to a low production maintenance month like August. It should be compared to September 2008, which shows September was down 5.3 percent from last year, or about 1,208,000 barrels less.

Using Energy Information Administration figures for Y.T.D. through July, Alaska production is down 6.2 percent from last year (137 million barrels vs. 146 million barrels).

The correct information to give readers is that Alaska oil production is continuing to fall about 6 percent a year, with no end in sight.

Any impression that Alaska oil production is increasing is pure gibberish. I recommend you look at the Energy Information Administration's monthly production figures for Alaska to learn what is happening to Alaska's oil production.

-- D. Lilja

Phoenix

Medicare system beats that of private insurance carriers

I would like to challenge Heather Mathias' statement ("Republicans aren't dumb hicks," ADN letter Oct. 4) that "people need to buy supplemental insurance because Medicare is a disaster."

As a beneficiary of Medicare for the last several years, I can assure you that the program is far from being a "disaster." I have found it to be fair, efficient and as fast as private insurance companies. The only problem with it is that it is underfunded, resulting in payments to providers amounting to a fraction of their usual fees.

Medicare pays 80 percent of approved medical services, the same ratio used by most private insurance companies. Optional supplemental insurance covers the remaining 20 percent of the medical charges.

Each Medicare recipient is provided with a booklet that spells out exactly what is paid and what is not. Insurance companies do the same, but because they are all about profit, they employ staffs of people to try to find loopholes to deny claims. I am very happy to be covered by Medicare and no longer at the mercy of insurance companies.

-- Susan Abbott

Anchorage

Here's a solution to gas crisis

I'm sick to death of this gas crisis. Here's my plan.

1. Enstar, buy a spare compressor!

2. Municipality of Anchorage, quit issuing building permits that require gas hookups.

3. Quit sending 40 percent of our gas to Japan. I don't know why I should have to live in 60-degree temperatures so new businesses can open using Lord only knows how much gas. It's ridiculous.

-- G.W. Keyl

Anchorage

Speak up about H2H project

The Department of Transportation is considering five alternatives for the Highway-to-Highway project that would decimate some of the oldest and most established neighborhoods in Anchorage by running an eight-lane highway directly through them. It is positively unacceptable that in an effort to alleviate a few minutes of driving for some, entire neighborhoods and schools would be considered expendable.

If you live in Wickersham Park, Tudor Hills, Rogers Park or other parts of the Tudor or Campbell Park communities, your homes are at risk.

Please research the H2H project on the Internet and contact your representatives -- federal, state and local. They need to know that we are not willing to allow any neighborhoods to be ravaged by this project. We are not that kind of a city, especially when there are other options available.

-- Maureen Lauterbach

Anchorage

Support third, fourth parties

Does it not seem odd that we elect only Democratic or Republican representatives? Do we actually believe there are only two political perspectives? Certainly, there must be politically creative, original thinkers out there. Who has silenced them, and how?

Is it possible that global corporate giants have taken advantage of our political complacency and laziness, and have taken control of both Democratic and Republican parties in every way that matters to them? If they had such a tempting opportunity, certainly such capable giants would have taken it by now. Oh yes, they would let stand certain social differences like gay rights and abortion issues, which do not affect their bottom line, to perpetuate an illusion of free democracy.

Let's become wise to them. Let's get rid of the Electoral College and let's support third- and fourth-party candidates, and watch the fireworks of freedom begin anew.

-- Dan Russell

Willow

Electric cars can work fine in most of Alaska, Ms. Palin

Sarah Palin's statement in the National Review article "Drill": "Electric cars might work in Los Angeles, but they don't work in Alaska, where you can drive hundreds of miles without seeing many people, let alone many electrical sockets."

Except for Anchorage and Fairbanks, most towns have very limited road systems that would be fine for electric vehicles. Most driving is confined to a local road system, not long-haul between communities.

High oil prices benefit the state's coffers, yet residents of rural Alaska pay some of the highest prices for gasoline in the United States.

The problem with electric vehicles is that current battery technology does not tolerate extreme cold. Electric vehicles work in Southeast Alaska, and could work well for a large part of the year in many other Alaska towns that have a stable supply of electricity from a renewable energy source.

Drill/don't drill -- but don't tell me electric cars won't work in Alaska. Sitka already has several that work just fine!

-- Linda Wilson

Sitka

Caribou, drilling can coexist

In the Oct. 11 Daily News, there was a front page article about some caribou herds that are declining in Canada and Alaska ("Caribou crash"). It was noted in a side article that caribou in three Alaska herds are increasing, including the Central Arctic herd that doubled from 32,000 in 2002 to 67,000 in 2008.

Please note that this is the herd that uses summer ranges in the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk oil fields. Despite decades of predictions of negative impacts of the oil fields on this herd, it has increased from about 5,000 in the 1970s to 67,000 in 2008. This is the period over which the oil fields were developed and operated.

I believe this indicates that oil development can coexist with caribou and other wildlife populations with multiple-use management in many areas, including northeast NPRA and ANWR.

-- Matthew A. Cronin

Anchorage

Wall Street needs regulating

Regarding Wall Street bonuses: The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. What has our congressional delegation done to regulate Wall Street?

-- Keenan Powell

Anchorage

Forget 'safety hour'; let's get serious about the problem

A "safety hour" at Anchorage bars is an unworkable plan for a complicated problem, namely public intoxication, crime and drinking and driving.

This year alone we have seen catastrophic carnage arrive in our hospitals caused by people who drive a car while compromised.

Anchorage and its municipality must come to terms with this issue, and soon, and place safety over budgetary efficiency. A safety hour will NOT stop the carnage toward innocent citizens. It is a poor response to families we see weep inconsolably at the bedside of someone injured due to alcohol and drugs.

Get serious, Alaska. Give the troopers and local police the resources they deserve. Fund a comprehensive plan to educate young people before they can drink and lock auto ignitions when people are caught.

It is our responsibility to make our towns safe, not somebody else's. So let's not kid ourselves, Mr. and Mrs. Assemblyperson, about a safety hour. With due respect, make us proud to live here, not ashamed.

-- Gary Goins, R.N.

Eagle River

Race money has better uses

I would like to add my voice in protest of the Alaska National Guard spending $250,000 in support of the Iron Dog. Maybe they have forgotten that we are a country involved in two wars. It seems to this Vietnam veteran that the money could better be spent by the Guard on more equipment or training for our soldiers so that these wars can be brought to a faster conclusion and our warriors remain safer.

-- Thomas J. Eley

Anchorage

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