Alaska State Park.....cont'd

To recap:

Oil exploration has halted on the Artic plain....development has been shelved of known reserves, such as Liberty. Further south, the Agrium plant (makers of fertilizers, etc) and the LNG plant on the Kenai have or are closing, due to not enough supply to meet the contracts. This is because there has not been much exploration or development in Cook Inlet either-partly due to tax structure and taxes, partly due to the smaller market here in Southcentral.

In about six years, there won't be enough oil available at Prudhoe Bay to send down the line safely-production has declined to about 600,000 barrels a day and dropping every year. Since it takes so many years to bring a well online, we are reaching a critical turning point in operation of the pipeline. It represents over 80 percent of the state's entire revenues, and of course, has provided handsomely to our state and local governments, and a very long list of improvements-and ongoing liabilities. So, Prudhoe Bay is at risk for being mothballed between no off shore drilling, can't touch federal lands, impossible permitting processes, and punitive tax structure. 1000s and 1000s of Alaska jobs depend on hydrocarbon exploration and development.

No Pebble Mine, no Chuitna or Sutton of Chickaloon coal either, if the enviromentalists and NIMBYs have their way of course. Can't use it, even though the state depended on it for electrical production for decades. It's "too dirty" and poses health and environmental risks, etc-according to opponents. Never mind the jobs, the type of coal present, the sheer necessity of having some sort of resource extraction. So there goes another how many jobs? It will be substantial. Most of the nay sayers are happily consuming energy products in their modern houses, driving vehicles, never seeing the double standard. It's all about locking up the beauty that is Alaska forever. You know, keep it safe and pristine.

Sigh

We are already a welfare state. That means, Alaska gets about $2 in federal money for every $1 we generate in federal taxes. We also have the tightest evironmental regulations anywhere on Earth. We have the strongest oversight, toughest permitting processes and highest taxes as well. Yet, despite this (and dozens of PACs and environmental activist groups) the major US developers would still prefer to produce in Alaska. After all, at least here you don't have your billion dollar investments seized and nationalized. But if they aren't allowed to explore, to drill, to build one blasted bridge for winter use-why would they stay? The legistlature has already proven they can (and will) change how business is done here at a whim.

Of course I am just touching on a small portion of the circumstances here in Alaska. A person must factor in what's happening in Washington, DC, and events around the world. Take into consideration the collapsing economy, the inflation rate (around 20 percent in just food alone here locally-if you haven't been living under a rock) and so on and so forth. The national debt will eventually break this nation, I can't see any other outcome.

What happens after that?