Only one state in the Union produces more American oil each year than Alaska, and no: contrary to conventional wisdom (see below), it’s not Rhode Island. Of course, that honor goes to our friends from Texas – but here’s an interesting nugget for you: For as much oil as Texas produces onshore, even more comes from the state’s adjacent (and federal) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

This prolific tract is more commonly known as the Gulf of Mexico – and for the offshore doubters out there, it stands today as a vexing monument to what can be achieved when cutting-edge, space-age technology meets a localized federal energy policy that encourages producers to go out and look around.

Of course, that same technology is available up here in Alaska. What’s lacking, however, is the federal policy piece – one that would finally allow our state to do for the nation (and itself) what states along the Gulf Coast have continued to do, and successfully so, for the better part of three generations.

You can take a look at the numbers for yourself on this phenomenon; they don’t lie. Alaska produced 249,874,000 barrels of oil for American energy consumers in 2008 – not a single drop of it from energy-rich areas along the state’s adjacent federal OCS. And it’s not as if folks have gone out to look for some out there and come back empty-handed. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that as many as 157 billion barrels of oil – 15 ANWRs! – lie ready, willing and able to be gotten above the Arctic Circle – much of that in areas within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

So that’s the policy as it exists today: Yes, there are staggering amounts of energy available for production up here, but no: none of it will be available to create jobs, revenue and opportunity here in the United States. But wait. A column we came across today in the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Tribune from Earthjustice advisor Buck Parker says it’s “time to correct past wrongs in Arctic oil development.” From the piece:

Salazar should follow the advice of NOAA and hold off permitting new oil and gas activity in the Arctic until we have a better idea of how to respond when oil inevitably leaks and until we know a lot more about Arctic wildlife. … It is not too late for Salazar’s Interior Department to correct course and protect the Arctic Ocean.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but let us reiterate: Not a stitch of oil development has taken place in the Arctic – not because there’s no energy in the area, but because the federal government has done everything in its power (real and perceived) to deny us access to it. Apparently, this point isn’t fully known by this fella from Earthjustice – because, after all, he wouldn’t knowingly mislead his readers into thinking otherwise. Would he?

The full column is probably worth your read, if for no reason than to fully appreciate the lengths to which anti-energy activists will go to convince the American people that oil exploration in Alaska’s OCS is happening right now, that it’s ruining a pristine environment, and that federal officials must act at once to “correct past wrongs” in the region by bringing existing development to an immediate end.

But there’s no need to worry, Mr. Parker. Your apparatchiks in Washington are doing a bang up job at preventing that development as it is.

Look and you shall find, find and you shall see, see and you shall know – if that’s not contained in some ancient Hindu urtext somewhere, it probably ought to be. But despite being profound, it also happens to be true.  And news this week out of the Gulf of Mexico of BP’s massive new oil find got us to thinking what might kind of energy resources might be lying in wait up here in Alaska as well.

But first, let’s give our friends in the Gulf their due:

British energy giant BP has made a “giant” oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico after drilling one of the industry’s deepest-ever wells, it said Wednesday, in a further boost for crude supplies.

“BP announced today a giant oil discovery at its Tiber Prospect (well) in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico,” the company said in a statement.

“The Tiber well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 35,055 feet (10,685 metres) making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry,” it added. …

The discovery is larger than BP’s Kaskida discovery in the same geological area three years ago, which contains around three billion barrels of oil.

Talking about a lot of oil in that field – but still, only a relative drop in the bucket compared with what might be available in Alaska. Of course, we’ll never know either way if a few well-connected bureaucrats in DC win the day.

But oh – imagine the possibilities if producers up here were able to unleash new seismic technology that allows them to see 4-D imagery (you thought there were only three dimensions, didn’t ya?) of energy-bearing formation underground. 4-D’s got all the axes covered, that’s a given – but it also allows scientists to observe the flow of energy over time, sometimes in near real time.

That way, we not only know where oil and gas was tomorrow and is today – we have a good chance of pinpointing where it’s going to be tomorrow.

And not for nothing, but we’re likely talking about an epic amount of energy that remains under de facto lock-and-key here. Last spring, the Bureau of Land Management put a conservative number on it:

According to a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) report, vast untapped oil and natural gas resources exist on public lands in the U.S. These public lands are estimated to contain 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, but are presently closed to energy production.

Many of those formal bans have been lifted, but an informal prohibition on accessing those vital resources remains very much intact today. Chief among those informal bans: Interior’s institutional ennui when it comes to discharging its responsibilities in Alaska.

Remember earlier this year when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. tossed out our nation’s existing five-year energy plan? The one governing the auctioning and sale of leases and the subsequent exploration and production of energy tied to those leases along America’s 1.76 billion acre outer continental shelf (OCS)? The one that not only iced out responsible energy exploration activities along Alaska’s OCS, but threatened to do the same in energy-rich areas in the Gulf of Mexico?

Late last night, the Court clarified its ruling to indicate that only Alaska’s OCS will be threatened by its capricious interpretation of the law – not the Gulf Coast’s. Here’s the AP’s take on the big news:

A federal appeals court ruling won’t stand in the way of new oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington clarified late Tuesday that its decision earlier this year to block some Bush-era drilling plans was meant to apply only to activity in Alaska, not the Gulf.

Uncertainty over the decision had raised questions about whether the Interior Department should move forward with a lease sale scheduled for Aug. 19 in some 18 million acres in the western Gulf near Texas. The Obama administration announced recently that it planned to hold the Gulf sale but acknowledged it might have to reverse course if the court directed it to.

Why did we create a site called What About Alaska? Consider this Exhibit A.