Alliance fights back on ACES claims

The group running the "Faces of ACES" ads advocating changes to the state's oil tax is fighting back against some Democrats in Juneau who called foul on the ad's claims (read  their letter to the Alliance here ).

The Alliance - a group of about 500 members with a stake in Alaska's oil, gas and mining industries - sent an e-mail to legislators on Monday morning, saying they wouldn't respond to the Democrats' allegations of untruth, but would instead let the numbers speak for themselves.

House Democrats, who oppose changes to the oil tax without hard financial data from companies demonstrating need, say employment and investment are up. And they are, or were, through 2008.

But the January issue of Alaska Economic Trends (put out by the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development) cautions that employment and investment could taper off.

Direct oil and gas employment grew from 8,000 to 13,000 jobs between 2004 and 2009, an all-time high, even with declining oil production, the report says.

ACES was passed in 2007, and oil prices ratcheted up to record levels in 2008.

But 2009 is looking different.

"After four years of spectacular growth on the North Slope, employment began to level off and drift downward during the second half of 2009," the reports says, predicting continuing declines through 2010. Mostly, the job declines are expected in support services.

Here's the text of the e-mail from the Alliance to lawmakers:

ACES is working?

Part 2

Some politicians & political appointees in Juneau still claim the ACES oil tax is working as planned - creating new jobs, stimulating investment and increasing drilling activity in Alaska.

Twelve Alaska State House Minority members wrote the Alliance last week calling for "corrections" to our ads asserting that ACES has cost Alaskans jobs & business opportunities and stifled oil industry investment. *

Some of them, both implicitly & explicitly, have accused the Alliance of "lying" for what we've said in our ads. We've chosen not to respond to their attacks on the integrity of our organization and its 500 member companies, many of which are directly suffering the impacts of oil industry spending cutbacks due to ACES and other factors outside Alaska's control.

We believe their time-tattered tactic of attacking the messenger speaks for itself, as does their apparent lack of concern for the 2,200-plus Alaskans in the oil & gas support sector now standing in unemployment lines around the state - more than 1,300 of whom weren't standing there two years ago when ACES was adopted.

We ask that you look at the numbers - not numbers we made up, but numbers from state agencies. You be the judge.

Since the ACES oil production tax was adopted in late 2007, the number of Alaskans in the oil & gas support sector filing unemployment claims has skyrocketed ...

Exploratory drilling activity has dropped to a 10-year low ...

Source: Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

So has development drilling ...

Source: Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

And according to the Alaska Department of Revenue, North Slope oil production has declined by more than another 80,000 barrels per day.

Respectfully,

Joe Hegna, President

Mark Hylen, President-elect & Vice President, Government & Public Relations

Tom Hendrix, Vice President, Industry Relations

Tom Walsh, Secretary

Jeanine St. John, Immediate Past President

Paul Laird, General Manager