$Billion$ Dollar Blunder

Here is the latest update on the long awaited Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline. To date, the State of Alaska has spent close to a $Billion$ dollars on studying the feasibility of a pipeline that will deliver Alaska’s North Slope “stranded” natural gas to market and at the same time reward the state coffers with additional income. Yet with that money already spent on something that remains a mystery, another spring has climaxed here in the interior and the “Union” labor halls are silent. There is no pipe being stockpiled along the Van Horn Road construction material sites. No excavators or ditch diggers heading “North” to trench the tundra to accept the pipe. No nothing! Why? It is a very simple equation, one the politicians are afraid to come forward upon. Here it is in a nutshell. Oil companies are smart, especially the “Big” oil conglomeRATes – like British Petroleum, like Conoco-Phillips, like EXXON. Yes all the “Big” players still claiming Alaska’s North Slope as their very own – sorry Mr. Independent Pioneer! And when oil development was in its infancy, when Alaskans were glad to be part of that Trans-Alaska-Pipeline dream-team and taking home a decent paycheck, at the same time we were blinded by the might! See, these conglameRATes are “oil” companies, without a real “natural gas” driven interest. In fact, they have no desire at all sending the natural gas that comes topside with the precious oil away for export, as that would hurt the bottom-line. Oil fetches a pretty good double-digit ransom these days, and natural gas is used to suck every bit of the “Black Gold” out of the ground – through reinjection enhanced recovery operations. So when the state was starting to get rich some 30-years ago - but naïve just like Jed Clampet - the oil brokers and money soakers helped write the laws. And one very well kept secret is the tax law, for oil development when “gas development” hinders the latter interest in the “Last Frontier”. It specifically states that if ever, if ever there comes an opportunity for gas to be diverted away from the “slope” and such hurts oil production through decreased recovery, the oil companies that once relied on that so-called “stranded gas”, it can claim a very favorable tax benefit. Yes, we are being held hostage our efforts to sell “our” gas. In fact, when one dissects the state’s laxative tax structure, “Big Oil” could see a gain and the state at a loss when such time natural gas gets the green light for export away from Alaska! So the lawmakers know this, yet are afraid to face their congregation with the true facts, that a gas pipeline is but a dream, a big wet-dream and will never ever be a reality, as the existing laws favor the bully. So just keep throwing money away to entice the fact that they - the politicians - are doing something, when nothing can be done – a very real “Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere”! Change the tax laws? You have missed the “Big Parnell” picture, as “Big Oil" writes its own excuses for being late for……