| May 12, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 It’s been a gaseous week here at Insurgent Headquarters. At the time of this writing, Governor Murkowski’s much anticipated gasline contract with the ‘big three’ oil producers has been out for about sixty hours. Weighing in at over one thousand pages (including the Dept. of Revenue’s fiscal analysis and a wide host of appendices and other accompanying documents), it is much too cumbersome to digest in a short amount of time. At first blush, however, our initial reaction is this: This is some kind of joke, right? Let’s review some of the ‘highlights’ of the historic agreement Alaskans have been waiting years for: - does not include a firm start date for construction of a natural gas pipeline. In fact, there is no requirement whatsoever that the oil producers do any work at all. They are free to break from the contract at any time with no penalty. - would lock production taxes (on oil as well as natural gas) in place for as long as forty-five years. - requires the State of Alaska to set up a new bureaucracy to bring its gas (a twenty percent ownership share in the pipeline) to market. - contains no provision for an alternative pipeline route. If this proposal (and with no firm construction dates or other guarantees that a gas pipeline will ever be built, that’s exactly what this is ... a proposal) somehow makes its way to passage by the Legislature, it would basically install ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and British Petroleum as rulers of the state of Alaska for the next three or four decades. But, hey ... don’t take our word for it. After all, we are but poor, simple insurgents who have only had two days to digest this complex stack of documents. Bill Walker of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority calls the language in the Governor’s proposal “offensive”. “The way the state is indemnifying them [the oil producers]”, he says, “ ... it’s rather astounding that’s the role we’re in”. And the former head of the state Division of Oil and Gas, Mark Myers, says that this proposal is actually worse than the one he quit in disgust over last year. Myers likens it to ordering a multi-billion dollar condo and then telling the contractor to build it when he feels the time is right. And as for the Democrats in Juneau ... well, they’re still reading. Meanwhile, did you know that, according to the Murkowski administration, the 45-day public comment period on the “contract” has already started? That’s right, Alaskans ... you had better squeeze some time in real fast between work, the kids’ soccer practice and spring gardening for some serious reading. And, if you can afford it, it might not be a bad idea to hire an attorney to help you with all the legal-ese, and/or your own oil and gas expert to help with the technical jargon. The state is accepting public comment on the gasline website now, and the Governor’s office is set to embark on a statewide tour to convince us that selling our souls to Big Oil (even more than we already have) is in our best interests. Get ready for Round Two of the British Petroleum/ConocoPhillips advertising barrage, a relentless attempt to sell us on the idea that, if we don’t do what our masters want, they will be forced to pull up stakes and leave Alaska. Anybody buying that one? We didn’t think so. And we’re not buying this so-called “contract” either. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com |
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