Our Own Worst Enemy

This morning in Anchorage, Shell’s Alaska Vice President for Exploration and Production, Pete Slaiby (NGP Photo), will discuss prospects for a 2012 exploration program in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.  See below for Federal comment period opportunities.  -dh

ADN-AP.  Decades after construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, state lawmakers are again hearing from Alaskans concerned about the number of out-of-state hires in good-paying jobs on the North Slope.  … The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee will convene another hearing in Anchorage on North Slope hiring today at the Legislative Information Office at 716 W. 4th Ave.  The committee will hear invited testimony from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and open testimony from the public between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  The hearing will be teleconferenced.

Commentary:  The state operating budget increases by double digits as the source of 90% of State revenue — Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS)  throughput — decreases by 6% annually.  Instead of asking the state’s greatest investors how legislators might assist in attracting more investment and jobs and moderating one of the world’s harshest tax burdens, legislators harass the state’s largest investors by summoning witnesses to testify about why more employees don’t choose to or cannot be forced to live in Alaska.  Nero euphemistically fiddled around while Rome burned and was his own worst enemy.  We wonder if contemporary Alaskan rulers are not — with best intentions — inadvertently taking a page from Nero’s playbook.    (Photo: Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus)

Meanwhile, as noted below, federal hearings and comment periods will significantly affect TAPS throughput and — to our knowledge — only one of sixty legislators has to date provided comment.  We again plea for the state’s elected leaders to participate in federal comment periods and use their position in a way that can actually produce more pipeline throughput and long term prosperity for constituents.  We also extend a warm invitation for legislators to send us their comments on federal permitting and rulemaking issues that so heavily affect the lives of Alaskans.  And, we urge legislative leadership to refocus on issues that matter.  -dh