Scott Hawkins Has It Right!

Our Canadian Friends face pro- and anti-development struggles in the North as well. See this Globe and Mail Story by Nathan Vanderklippe.

Commentary: Our thanks to Alaska entrepreneur-economist Scott Hawkins for this summary of our current investment climate ‘fix’. Earlier this weekend I wrote the following comment in response to intrasigence of legislators bent on keeping their ill gotten gains at the expense of Alaska’s future: "The Senate Fiddles While Rome Burns. Senators hurriedly constructed ACES in a month of chaos, but to modify it after years of proven failure Senator Stevens says, "Let’s take a deep breath and think about it." Problem is, we are short on leaders who can distinguish from taking a deep breath and thinking when time provides that luxury…and acting quickly and decisively in an emergency! The one takes the training of a sleep instructor, the other takes the guts, intelligence and swift response of a real leader." -dh

ADN Compass Piece by Scott Hawkins (NGP Photo). Something unusual is happening in Alaska. For the first time since the fight for statehood more than 50 years ago, there is an overwhelming consensus among Alaska leaders that decisive, coordinated action is needed. Leaders from all walks of life have come to realize that our economic future is in grave danger. … What is this danger? The very real threat that the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) will shut down as a result of low oil production. The consensus is far-reaching. It includes Alaska Native CEOs: Helvi Sandvik of NANA Development Corp., Margie Brown of CIRI, and Will Anderson of Koniag, to name a few. It features homegrown Alaska business icons: Lynden CEO Jim Jansen, Northrim Bank founder Marc Langland and investor Carl Brady. It includes a bipartisan cross-section of elected officials and elder statesmen — Democrats like former Gov. Bill Sheffield and Tony Knowles, Republicans like Gov. Sean Parnell, House Speaker Mike Chenault, and a majority of the Alaska House of Representatives. The consensus is geographically wide, too, and includes the business leaders on the statewide boards of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, the Resource Development Council, and the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alaska. It includes prominent academics such as former University of Alaska president Mark Hamilton and Alaska’s leading economist, Dr. Scott Goldsmith. The list goes on. All of these leaders sense danger.

This morning, former legislator Jay Ramras (NGP Photo) wrote an Op-Ed in the Anchorage Daily News: Recently, former Gov. Tony Knowles and Conoco Phillips president Jim Mulva gave us both a history of what can happen when we as Alaskans work as partners with industry and a preview of the projects that would be likely to happen if we make the tax climate fair and economical. If we do nothing, in five years we could be down to 450,000 barrels a day through TAPS. Five years after that, significantly less. Will the pipeline keep flowing? We need to think 10 years out. Today we have a surplus, but what will my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have if we do not act now?

Commentary: Other writers of recent articles who have it ‘right’ include : Tom Maloney, Alex Gimarc, Dan Fagan, (Photos below) Lindsey Whitt, and then…there is this voice from our past, Arco…. -dh