Special ‘Oh God We’re Back’ Edition!!!

I’m sitting in my office in Juneau as I write this. We are gathering for the special session that starts today. By the time we’re done, I expect we will have voted up or down on giving a Canadian pipeline company the state’s license to build the gas pipeline. The company, an outfit called TC Alaska, proposes building a pipeline through Alaska and Canada as far as Alberta, where it would link with existing pipelines.

There’s also talk about considering Gov. Sarah Palin’s plan to give away a lot of money to Alaskans under the theory that we are all just smashed flat by the cost of energy. But whether that comes up in this session is still up in the air.

The gas pipeline

What we will consider for sure is whether to grant a state license to TC Alaska, a combination of TransCanada Alaska LLC and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. The governor wants us to do that. What the license means is that the state will pay $500 million in costs of developing the pipeline and offer other assistance. And we won’t be able to cooperate with any competing pipeline unless we pay a slug of money to TC Alaska.

This is all laid out in the AGIA legislation that passed the legislature 59-1 last year. So you’d think approval would be a slam dunk. But since then, two of the North Slope oil producers – BP and ConocoPhillips – have announced that they’re going forward with preparations of a pipeline of their own. And the folks who support an all-Alaska gas pipeline lost out in the original competition, but are still saying they’re in the hunt. So it’s always possible that a majority of legislators will decide that what they liked in theory doesn’t look so good in the cold light of reality.

I spent three days last week getting beaten about the head and shoulders with facts, figures and opinions from a bunch of really smart people hired by the administration to review TC Alaska’s proposal and, when they decided they liked it, sell it to the rest of us. It was like trying to get a doctorate in all things gas pipeline in about the same amount of time it takes me to balance my checkbook. So I’m sure I missed a lot.

But now I get the chance to hear it all – or most of it, at least – again. More than once.  We’re spending the next week here in Juneau listening to consultants talk about all this. Then we’re going on the road for what looks like three weeks to listen to the same people say the same things in different places – and to hear what the public thinks. Here’s the schedule for that:

• June 3-10: Juneau
• June 12-14: Fairbanks
• June 16-20: Anchorage
• June 24: Mat-Su
• June 26: Kenai
• June 30-July 1: Barrow
  

Specific times and locations should be announced soon. If you have time, you should come by and listen, and maybe you’ll be able to explain some of the finer points of reservoir management to me. I need all the help I can get.

Sometime around the Fourth of July, we’re scheduled to return to Juneau and vote this baby up or down. By then, I’ll either know so much about the gas pipeline that I’ll be dangerous, or I’ll be a drooling idiot. (And those of you who are thinking, “but he’s already a drooling idiot” can now go stand in the corner.)

Energy relief

The Palin administration is proposing to spend something north of $1.2 billion on a one-year program to pay down energy costs in Alaska. About $450 million of that is in direct costs to utilities, with the rest going in the form of debit cards for every man, woman and child in the state. (If you don’t believe me, go here for the governor’s own description.)

This may well be the single worst public policy proposal I’ve seen in 30 years of watching state government. Among the problems are doling out money to people who are paying the national average for energy, footing the federal government’s utility bills and trying to figure out how to make debit cards work in places where, well, debit cards don’t work.

Not to mention – although, really, I am mentioning it -- starting a handout policy that won’t go away by itself and won’t be supplanted by any long-term energy fix for many years. So what Palin is actually asking for is a commitment to pay more than $1 billion a year for an unknown number of years for something government doesn’t usually pay for, like your gas at the pump. What next? A subsidy for people who are suffering from the escalating costs of tasty baked goods?

Still, I may just be suffering from a case of rapidly advancing crusty old man-ism. I do turn 60 next week. So I’ve mailed a poll to the district to see what the good people of House District 25 think. I’ve gotten 60 responses so far, and here’s what they say:

Question: Gov. Sarah Palin has proposed a $1.2 billion program to pay energy costs. You can read the details of the plan at http://gov.state.ak.us. Please answer the following questions.

Support: 21 (35%)
Oppose: 34 (57%)
Support w/ changes: 5 (8%)

Question: Many Alaskans and Alaska businesses are paying about the national average for energy. Should they receive state aid?

Yes: 17 (28%)
No: 43 (72%)

Question: Part of the plan would have the state pay 60 percent of the electricity costs for the federal government, the oil companies and other businesses.

Support: 6 (10%)
I think the help should go only to individual Alaskans: 54 (90%)

I’ll try to report the results as they come in, but so far support for the plan is not overwhelming.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back as developments warrant and time allows.

Best wishes,