Where’s the Pipe?

I don’t know why everybody up Fairbanks way is panicking over the Mark Begich showdown - taking on the military brass - with respect to the inevitable shutdown of Eielson Air Force Base, as real good paying jobs are available elsewhere. Yes indeed, thousands of well paying jobs are coming our way, courtesy AGIA - Sarah Palin’s legacy. See, there is something we can thank her for besides turning Alaska into reality TV central, where a bunch of misfits find their ten-minutes claim to fame! That fishing crap and gold-rush crap, what has happened to the “Real Alaska”? But not to worry, as we have job opportunities in the making, courtesy AGIA! So instead of staying at home with nothing to do except the couch potato blues, bombarded by that TV crap, we can become gainfully employed! And if not qualified to land one of these well paying jobs, training opportunities are readily available, in efforts to secure the best jobs possible since the building of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. See, with AGIA, it requires TransCanada – the applicant that was awarded the “license” to build something besides a paper mache pipeline – the legislation behind AGIA requires the Trans-Man to make every effort to hire local folks, like you and I, for any job related to this project. Accordingly, the licensee will “commit to hire qualified residents from throughout the state for management, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, and other positions on the proposed project". It is the “other position” phase we are into today. That qualifies anybody with a brain, pea or flea, to get on the payroll - wherein even Joe Miller is acceptable. And with the possibilities of $500-million in incentive bonuses from the state of Alaska Boogeyman, there are jobs for the asking, positions to be filled by Alaskans! Boogeyman? That’s Sean Parnell, the silver-bullet man! The man with the “Trust Me” smile. So let’s see what Mr. Phineas J. Whoopee and his 3D Magical board shows may be in store in the jobs category with this kind of free loot floating around. Wow, that amount of money equates to at least 2000 good paying salaries, just to ask questions about how people feel about a natural gas pipeline that is still not anywhere close a reality, and just another pipe dream. Hey, we got away with bridges to nowhere, so we fooled ourselves into believing other “nowhere” stuff a possibility. And these jobs are the cushion type stuff, no hands dirty. No time clock! Most likely per diem, relocation bonuses, great medical benefits, like most state bureaucrats receive. WOW! And since the AGIA legislation goes on until the money is spent, why fear a job loss at some crummy dilapidated military base? And even though the state remains the dominant this agreement with the Trans-Man and holds tight that sentiment “don’t slap the hand that feeds you”, it has found itself in the corner, with no wiggle room in this AGIA. See, there is a clause in the agreement that allows either party to make a call, that the project is uneconomical, at anytime during this project's design lifetime, better defined as the “Open Season”, like is happening right now as soon as the jobs are filled. But we are at that “uneconomical” point in the game, with falling natural gas prices in the lower 48, from “frac” attacks. But if the state reneges, the Trans-Man still can get the loot from the state, all $500-million earmarked, then some through – hold your hats – through “Binding Arbitration”!!! So even if that “uneconomical showdown” should occur, the jobs will remain! Wow, jobs with security! That is why the AGIA police - namely Mr. Daniel Sullivan, the Alaska Commissioner of Natural Resources and a Palin hang-over along with Butcher, the Commissioner of Revenue - they allowed the Trans-Man to renege on a Trans-Canada pipeline route and opt for an instate pipeline. It was a means to stall the “Abandonment of Project” stipulation, language built into the “Act” designed to protect Alaska’s interest. Talk about changing horses in midstream! Who do these idiots work for. Them or us? But even though it is now an uneconomical venture, if either party wants to stop it, to stop wasting away money as is the case with the current state of affairs, the other party can haul in “binding arbitration” - and get a lucrative settlement. What a joke! What numskull agreed to this crappy legislation? Was Palin that naïve? Good thing she never became vice. So no matter what, it means the state will let the entire process bide its time and the Trans-Man will sneak away with $500-million. That means we will get nothing in return and see our PFD decreased by some $1800 bucks. See, it takes 3 state workers for every Trans-Man worker, the typical over-kill when nobody is listening. Look, if there was truly the reality of a natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay south, even just to Fairbanks so maybe cheap energy could keep Eielson off the chopping block, right now with the snow gone away and green grass of home making a show, ditches along the Dalton would be receiving pipe. It ain’t happening. And there are no long lines at the union halls, as there ain't no pipeline coming our way, now or forever Amen. The sad thing, there have been hardly any local jobs created with this Trans-Man and AGIA relationship. But the money has disappeared. Why in hell are we supporting Canada? The money was hauled off somewhere, out of state out of mind. Do you realize that Canada, through Toronto Dominion, owns a whole lot of the military infrastructure here in Alaska? Another reason the brass are looking at closing the Alaska military bases. See, there wasn’t an American bank that would allow money to be wasted on power plants ridden with asbestos and lead base paint as found at most of Alaska's aging and dilapidated fortresses. So the “privatization” thing turned into a “Turncoat” affair. Sorry, I went off subject, but there is a whole lot of reasons as too why the military infrastructure in Alaska is on its last leg, too damn expensive. “Open Season”? I guess we have been hunted down, wounded and every damn time we try to get on our feet, “boom”, another silver bullet calms any attempt to prosperity with austerity. What's that?