Congresswoman Maxine Waters
As 2017 begins next week, we’ll bring readers a review of Alaska’s government gas project questions. As Argentina and Venezuela and Brazil have demonstrated, government control of energy projects brings unearned riches to politicians in exchange for corruption, poorly run projects and miserable results for citizens.
In the present era, Alaska Governor Bill Walker — like Congresswoman Maxine Waters — is determined to learn the painful lessons of socialized energy industries all over again. He is falsely claiming that out of the midst of Alaska’s bloated, overspending, subsidized government, his advocacy of an uneconomic LNG export project is Alaska’s “number one get well card”, when under the best of circumstances Alaska would be broke before an LNG project could provide a cent of sustainability. He is also attempting to create out of almost thin air an expanded (i.e. over 1k existing customers) natural gas distribution system when there is no economic proposal for supplying the gas by pipeline…only tenuous LNG ground transport from limited Cook Inlet reserves. -dh
More tomorrow. Until 2917, here’s today’s link:
Legislative audit to investigate money transfers at state-led gas line agency
Does the state gas line agency have a full $100 million in public funds to spend planning a large gas pipeline
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Keith Meyer, president of the AGDC, asserts that his agency has about $100 million to spend on the project. But the audit will address questions about the agency’s legal authority to spend all that money, including $27 million in a fund to support ASAP. Hawker and Chenault have said the smaller project would reduce in-state energy costs and serve as a back up in case a larger project failed.
Meyer should not have $100 million to spend on this project. That money should go to reducing the state budget, not some PIPE DREAM.