“Oil Could Hit $80 to $90 a Barrel, Given What is Going to Happen in 2021” Power The Future Energy Hour Recap: Jeff Landfield with The Alaska Landmine

December 30, 2020

This week’s Power The Future Energy Hour – the last of 2020 – focused on both the past and the future.

Rick opened the show by talking about the top five stories of 2020, as they related to Alaska’s energy community.  The top three are being blogged about this week on PowerTheFuture.com.  The stories were: #5 – The Biden energy plan and its potential impact on Alaska; #4 – The Pebble Record of Decision debacle; #3 – Hilcorp closing the BP acquisition; #2 – COVID-19’s effect on our energy jobs, and #1 – ANWR finally opens with a lease sale.

Rick and Daniel Turner, PTF’s Executive Director and founder, then spoke in segment two about the national impact of COVID, and how energy jobs – just like America – will bounce back in 2021, as life begins to return to pre-COVID activity levels for travel, business gatherings and the like.

Anyone who knows Jeff Landfield, the owner of The Alaska Landmine political website and blog, understands that he is high-energy.  It was apparent during the two segments Jeff spent with Rick that 2020 hasn’t slowed down the Landmine’s efforts to provide breaking news, expose hijinks and bring its readers a unique perspective on Alaska’s political scene.

Jeff and Rick touched on a number of topics, including the top-five list noted above, the inability of either body (House or Senate) to organize yet in the Alaska State Legislature, and how the press corps covering local, state and federal politics is seen by lawmakers.  In addition, they spoke about how the Legislative Council – a body made up of current lawmakers (some of whom aren’t returning to Juneau in January) – ruled Monday that press wouldn’t be allowed to attend House or Senate floor sessions and would have to watch outside of the chambers.

Jeff noted that action was “…odd, because that is where all of the action is.  It is where they vote, that’s where they talk freely.  Things happen in there that you have to be able to see to tell the public…they can watch Gavel to Gavel, but since they control the cameras and the mics, you don’t get to see body language or hear the side conversations during at-eases.  That’s why it is important if you really want to have a true story come out, you don’t make that ruling.”

Jeff ended the segments by playing soothsayer and prognosticating that ANWR will be shut down by the Biden Administration, and that oil could hit $80 to $90 per barrel by the end of 2021.

This was Jeff’s first appearance on the Energy Hour, but it certainly won’t be his last.

If you missed this week’s show live, you can still catch it – as well as every episode from the past two years – on Power the Future’s Soundcloud.

The Energy Hour can be heard live every Tuesday night from 5:00-6:00 PM local time on KNVT (92.5 FM, 1020 AM and online at 1020KVNT.com).  The show (also replayed during the same hour on Saturday night) is heard throughout Southcentral Alaska communities, and acts as a recap of Power The Future activities in Alaska, as well as an opportunity to hear from various members of Alaska’s energy and political communities.  Feel free to reach out to Rick@PowerTheFuture.com with show ideas or feedback!