'Build the Line!' rally demands answer to wrong question

The “Build the Line!’ rally Tuesday demanded that legislators answer the wrong question.

See if you can spot what’s wrong with the question. And see if you can spot what’s wrong with the answer given by 10 Republicans and Democrats who showed up at the rally in Fairbanks.

Here’s the question:

“Are you willing to pass a bill that meets the needs and requirements of the developer in order to finance and build this project?”

Some of the 10 legislators who hesitated not an instant in answering “yes” must realize that the question is the wrong one. Some, unfortunately, do not.

The legislators are: Sens. Scott Kawasaki, George Rauscher, and Reps. Mike Prax, Rebecca Schwanke, Garret Nelson, Steve St. Clair, Will Stapp, Kevin McCabe, Maxine Dibert and Ashley Carrick.

Had any of them pointed out the deficiencies of the question they would have to confront the ‘Build the Line!’ propaganda directly and explain to the crowd why reality is more complicated than the dumb slogan the politicians and Glenfarne are pushing.

Even so, the legislators should have not played dumb and given the bubble-headed answer they were expected to provide. We live in a complicated world, especially when it comes to what may be the largest LNG construction project in the world.

Meeting the needs and requirements of the developer in order to finance and build the project could require reasonable actions by the state.

Or it could require an enormous give-away with long-term consequences that could damage the Alaska economy for generations.

So you can’t answer that foolish question with a yes or no if you want to give an intelligent answer. Legislators have to exercise sound judgment and not be stampeded by an industry pressure campaign.

Here’s what a real question might look like:

“Are you willing to pass a bill that meets the needs and requirements of the developer in order to finance and build this project even if it means the state's project cost obligations and revenue concessions could exceed project revenues to the state?”

Here’s another option:

“Are you willing to pass a bill that meets the needs and requirements of the developer in order to finance and build this project without knowing what the Alaska LNG project will cost, without seeing the text of the secret agreement the state signed with Glenfarne and without knowing what risks the state is being exposed to?”

I am sure there are other variations that readers can imagine. Please add them to the comments.

Seth Church, the Fairbanks contractor and member of the UA Board of Regents who is now running for state House, wrote on Facebook, where he controls the Fairbanks page, that “it’s great to see such unity among our elected representatives.”

“It’s real - we can start building the pipeline this year! We just need to tell our legislators to do their damn job and build the line!” Church says on the Facebook page that has 218,000 members. Church is running against Rep. Will Stapp and will probably attack him for asking questions about the gas line legislation.

Glenfarne is not going to start building this year.

Church and his brother Josh, who is running for lieutenant governor under Dave Bronson, have both taken up this “do their damn job” attack against legislators.

Legislators are doing their jobs if they grapple with the details of complexity and reject the simple repetition of damn slogans, put forward in place of solutions.

There is no real disagreement about a gas pipeline in Alaska. But there is room for disagreement on what the state should do. No elected official or candidate who doesn’t understand this is to be trusted.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-067