Let Alaska Try It!

Here we go again! Another attempt to show that unproven technology shows its face of failure once it hits Alaska. I will take that back. Proof once again that when new fandangle technologies don’t make it totally feasible because of way too many uncertainties and a risk factor that sends budget directors running for cover, let Alaska try it. Just like that cereal commercial, “Let Mikey Try It”. Now I am all for alternative energy, but when one looks at the failures from what has been proposed so far here in Alaska, it goes to show that when Uncle Sam’s money is available the rip-off artists come out of the spruce bark beetle kill wood work. Alaska is the “Failed Projects” poster child of the nation. Why? Because of “zero” accountability and where transparency is just a big fat laugh. Now there is nothing wrong with trying, but there comes a point in time wherein we must wave the “white” flag and say enough is enough. See, it is OK to go ahead with these projects for jobs creation as long as the project sustains a “jobs for the future” infrastructure on its own. To build just for the fun of it is mismanagement and a waste. Case in point, the Kodiak Launch Facility that costs a whole bunch to keep running when it sees maybe a single launch per year. Yet it has created a nightmare jobs infrastructure that would mean unemployment for many if this state did the right thing and closed it down, or at least placed it in warn-storage mode. Private industry, like the oil industry, could not operate like this and doesn’t as it takes the appropriate measures to make damn sure that the shareholders get proper treatment. This is not the case with the KLF as we are the shareholders and I feel I am getting screwed over. But it is energy we are concerned with today, not star-wars! Failed projects dealing with energy are highlighted by the Stevens Clean Coal Plant in Healy, failed because it has been in litigation for 10-years. It was never designed to work well and clean, that was just a selling point, so it will never work unless conventionalized. Really, at its ribbon cutting ground breaking ceremony, several beneficiaries of “multi-million dollar” Federal “stimulus” giveaway pork grants wanted to name this site in horror of Ted, because it was unproven technology using Sam’s money and to this day it has never produced even enough electricity to light a single 60-watt room light bulb. A bicycle with a home-made generator is more efficient then that! Yes, the word “stimulus” was coined a long time ago when Ted, Don and Frank were allowed to send boatloads of Americans’ taxed income money this way for nothing accept to buy votes. Back then it was called “pork” and Ted was known as the “pork” king. Look, the honey-bucket is still in use after all these years even after zillions given away to cure the crapper. And that was a score-point for so many politicians’ campaign to victory speech, “I will make the Honey-Bucket obsolete”. And that rip-off geothermal deal in Chena, it would not be feasible unless? Once again the aid of Uncle Sam and the fact that the outfit providing the recap generator is doing it for publicity and it is not costing the owners a red cent. Bottom line, it costs more to design then build and maintain then what it delivers in return, so in reality it is yet another failure. But I will give this CIRI project some breathing room, in hope that it will contribute towards feeding the energy demands of SouthCentral Alaska, except there appears to be some figures out of whack that just don't add up. First off, we must remember that the resources belong to the citizens, and conservation is key to exploration and exploitation. This process, of igniting an underground bomb then trying to control it from topside, it wastes more energy then what can be reaped for use elsewhere. It doesn’t work out when laws of conservation, which is mandated by the Alaska Constitution, are followed. So to spend all this time, effort and money to build a 100-Mwatt electrical generating plant is risky, especially upon technology that is proven elsewhere but considered “maybe”. The same type projects using the same technology are being considered in the lower-48 only because of the generous contributions from Uncle Sam, by Federal grants, as it isn’t known yet whether it is a feasible project for obtaining private investment. And that CIRI plant, the size doesn’t make mush sense when one looks at the entire grid infrastructure and what is needed for future demands. And one must take into consideration the fact that there is a brand new power plant being built in Anchorage that is a co-generation type plant - green star of approval - designed to generate 245Mwatts, enough breathing room to take Anchorage way into the future with enough excess to keep the lights on at Don Young’s wood chip export facility, another failed eyesore. But we must keep the lights on just incase! It should be torn down and sold for scrap. So there really isn't a natural gas shortage. See, there is plenty of gas in the Beluga gas field, but for years it was coming out of the ground under natural pressure, over 1000-pounds per square inch, which was enough momentum to deliver it all the way over to Anchorage - for distribution. So it is an aging gas field and when one looks at the technology demands that have made Prudhoe Bay still alive and well after 30-years plus, we have the know-how to tame stubborn formations. Now I have been trying to get interest in buying a used ice-breaking barge from Russia, to carry LNG from the “slope” to Cook Inlet, as the Beluga gas field can be used as a storage vault. In the summer, or when there is very little ice, back and forth LNG tankers can contribute to the resource in efforts to pressurize the field. This is done in Canada, so the technology is already proven and works well with the economics. It would save consumers hundreds of dollars in energy costs, provide jobs and best of all, set the stage for natural gas pricing from Prudhoe Bay should there ever come a Palin gas line in the future. Here is another good one to think about. The best thing that could happen to Flint Hills refinery is for it to go bankrupt. Why? It will then be necessary for Alaska to import motor gasoline and jet fuel. And that brings with it competition, so the price per gallon would have to decrease and we the consumers would then know why and what we are paying for instead of having the present price tied to the health of the Alaskan Railroad, which has never been healthy without subsidies from Uncle Sam. Yes, another failure in the long list of failed crap-like infrastructure projects that has made this state one giant failure when it comes too business like successes. About the only thing this state excelled upon in business was tourism and corruption. Bottom line, we seem not to ever get it right and waste zillions proving nothing except we should tell all our sons and daughters to become road pavers, as this state seems to just want to pave and pave forever, as we can’t even get it right on the road stuff. And when we finally get it right with roads, then maybe a cure for the Honey-Bucket will be close behind. In the meantime, I have a viable cure for the Kodiak Launch Facility that has no rockets to launch yet is costing the taxpayers millions a year just to keep the lights on the creepy place that should have never been built. Launch Honey-Buckets towards the moon, as it appears it is now open season far and away and Uncle Sam seems interested. Especially in more crap legislation. If this is a go, it can be called the Alaska Turd Express and we can make a reality show about turd filled rockets blasting off from Kodiak. Hey, any idea how much the bosses over at the aerospace corporation take in? You don’t want to know, as even a pea-brain could manage one launch a year. Pathetic, to keep us in the dark and wasting all that good money just for nothing! So why in hell are we worried about energy and conservation?