Stripped of double-talk, what’s happening is far less significant than the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation claims. The real “milestone,” if there is one, is that the state has agreed to pay a major pipeline company up to $50 million to complete the next stage of pipeline planning work, the so-called front end engineering and design. That work is necessary to get updated cost estimates.
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This is no breakthrough. AGDC couldn’t reach this point without a state promise to pick up the tab for the $50 million planning phase of the gas pipeline. If the pipeline company pulls the plug, it will get all of its money back.
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Perhaps Nick Begich the Third is trying to cultivate an image as a Trump-like tough guy, when he is just a rude freshman seeking attention.
“Joe Biden is a son of a bitch,” the freshman House member announced on Elon Musk’s social media website.
I’m surprised he didn’t challenge him to a duel.
Read MoreIf there is one positive element about the failure to name a sixth trustee, it is a reminder that the current structure in state law for guidance of Alaska’s most important financial institution is out of date.
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The political chasm between Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan has been best illustrated over the last four yeas by their conflicting approach to the confirmation of federal judges for lifetime appointments.
Murkowski voted to confirm 160 district and circuit judges appointed by Biden, while Sullivan voted for 2.
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While staffing shortages have received national attention and have been a problem across Alaska, we need to hear from the governor about the real decline in state services on his watch, what he’s doing to fix the growing problems, the impact on Alaskans and how much it will cost to turn things around. He hasn’t provided a recovery plan
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As the calendar closes on 2024, I can tell you the high points for me took place in late November and early December.
Read MoreThe idea is not to draw from AIDEA’s hundreds of millions in cash reserves to potentially pay for a gas pipeline study, but to get the Legislature to add $50 million to AIDEA’s cache of $600 million.
It turns out that AIDEA, AGDC and the Dunleavy administration did not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the $50 million.
They will be asking legislators for forgiveness, not permission. I doubt they will get it.
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“The window for making decisions is closing,” says Bob Pickett, a longtime member of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
“If things just sort of slide and there’s no leadership, and we’re in the same position 12 months from now, we are looking at a dire, dire, situation. And people should get angry.”
Herz mentions how the potential shortfall in fuel supplies has the natural gas utility, the electric utilities, regulators and legislators worried about the immediate future.
Indecision is the biggest problem right now.
Read MoreThe Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority continues to claim that the $250,000 “independent economic analysis” of AIDEA can be kept secret because it is a draft and not subject to the public records law.
Randy Ruaro, the executive director of AIDEA, has denied my appeal of the agency’s refusal to release the report. The report was supposed to be released in late 2023.
Ruaro said if I want the document my only option is to appeal to Alaska Superior Court.
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