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Juneau Empire-AP, by Becky Bohrer. A Senate proposal to overhaul Alaska’s oil tax structure could cost the state up to $1.3 billion next year, hundreds of millions more than plans put forth by Gov. Sean Parnell and a different Senate committee, according to an analysis released Wednesday.
Sens. Lyman Hoffman and Click Bishop laughed as an economist began discussing the potential impact of the Senate Finance Committee’s rewrite of SB21 on state revenue and the operating budget. Hoffman, D-Bethel, later called the numbers “staggering” and said they would have a detrimental impact on the budget at a time when the state is already expecting to dip into savings to cover costs for the current fiscal year.
Co-chair Kevin Meyer said the committee is right to be concerned about any hit to the treasury. “But I would just remind people the reason why we have a deficit, even this year, is because we have no production, and the production is declining,” he said.
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Personal Report. Last night your author addressed members of the Project Management Institute,enjoying a meal beforehand with PMI sponsor, Maynard Tapp (NGP Photo).
During and after the speech we discussed with the audience project management principles involved with the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC), and illustrated the interlocking nature of various energy issues, including: AGDC re-enabling legislation (i.e.HB 4), oil tax reform (i.e. SB 21), Alaska North Slope (ANS) LNG project, Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) progress and the tenuous nature of Alaska’s economic future.
"PMI members are dedicated to professional management principles through certification," we said. "But in all honesty we should ask ourselves, ‘What use is certification if we don’t have jobs?’ We then urged members to also support organizations like the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Resource Development Council for Alaska and Consumer Energy Alliance whose advocacies support job growth in Alaska." -dh)
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