Residents crowded into the Municipality of Anchorage community meeting room in Eagle River for a chance to meet with members of the local legislative delegation Saturday.
Helping bookworms, solving the “rodeo that is the Glenn Highway commute,” drivers on cell phones and local traffic and drainage issues were discussed during the meeting, but the majority of the night was devoted to the possible development of a natural gas pipeline and Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
Chugiak resident Bill Kirk started the conversation by asking the legislators on hand, Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom, Rep. Anna Fairclough, Rep. Bill Stoltze, Sen. Fred Dyson and Sen. Charlie Huggins, to “explain what is really going on with the gas line.”
“Someone once told me that the most difficult task you'll ever have is to get accurate information that doesn't have a spin on it,” Dyson said. “That is the case with all the talk about the gas line. Everyone is spinning the message to suit them. The real truth on oil and gas issues is esoteric, meaning the real truth is known by an elite few.”
Dyson addressed the three major oil and gas producers, ConocoPhillips, BP and Exxon Mobil Corporation and their requests for fiscal certainty to move forward with development of a gas line.
“They want to know that the taxes and royalties will stay the same for the next 35 years,” he said. “But most of the legal opinions say that it is impossible for the Legislature today from binding the action of a future Legislature. No oil or gas producer has fiscal certainty anywhere in the world where there is a democracy. They may have it where there is a dictatorship. I understand them wanting to have that certainty as a sound business plan, but it's darn near impossible to do under our form of government.”
Huggins pointed out some positive actions that have been taken recently.
“In Fairbanks, the potential for having natural gas coming down the Dalton Highway in the form of liquefied natural gas from Exxon has the people celebrating,” he said. “Plus, the potential for development of Point Thompson by Exxon appears to finally be moving forward.”
Huggins said the Fairbanks deal is particularly important because it brings gas to Alaskans.
“You're the preferred customer for the gas,” he said. “I want to see gas for Alaskans. Enstar will be down in Juneau next week to discuss what they would like to see, and one of their ideas is a bullet line potentially coming down the Parks Highway to bring gas to Southcentral Alaska.”
Huggins also said that the ConocoPhillips plan is a viable course of action if TransCanada doesn't work or to be built in conjunction with a TransCanada line and the AGIA process.
“I quite frankly think we need to keep our eye on that ball because it might be the lower risk to Alaska,” he said. “There is a lot of risk with this AGIA plan because cost can go anywhere in my estimation from $40 billion to easily exceed $50 billion to complete that project and take maybe 15 years.”
Fairclough pointed to another issue that might have the producers dragging their feet, with oil selling at over $100 a barrel.
“With the increased oil prices, natural gas development costs have increased more than 100 percent in the last five years,” she said. “But the price that natural gas is selling at has only gone up $2 in the last decade. So its all about democracy and capitalism. The gas will go to market when it meets the bottom line. Until the producers can make money, our hands are tied.”
Eagle River resident Scott Bailey changed the topic of discussion with a request for something to be done about the commute to and from Anchorage.
“It's a rodeo of rollovers,” he said of driving the Glenn Highway everyday. “Something needs to be done to address the problem and cut down on the accidents that stall traffic during commute hours.”
Bailey wasn't just at the meeting to complain. He offered some ideas to address the problem, which include lowering the speed limit, increased police enforcement, doubling traffic fines and borrowing a lane from the unused side of the highway during peak commute hours.
Several residents expressed concern over some recently built roads in need of improvement getting consideration over problem areas that have been needing repair for more than 20 years. Among them was Diane Thatcher, who has lived in the Eagle Glen subdivision for 26 years.
“I'm here to oppose the municipality's request for money to address the flooding on Yosemite Drive,” she told the delegation as she distributed photos of her flooded front yard. “We've been waiting for years to have this problem fixed, and the folks on Yosemite will have to wait their turn like we have for more than 20 years.”
Fairclough addressed both concerns.
“The system is backlogged,” she said. “Not only for road projects, but there is over $70 million in deferred maintenance within the state university system that also has to be addressed. The good news is the governor is proposing a statewide transportation project that will take care of some of the major needs.”
Local resident and Anchorage Library Advisory Board member Ted Kassier spoke about the importance of approving a $500,000 grant request from the Municipality of Anchorage for the local branch library.
“I urge your support of this grant,” he said. “Because it will help the library continue to provide service to the local bookworms. I say that because the Eagle River-Chugiak branch is the most used of all the library branches in Anchorage.”
According to Kassier, the grant will be used to match funds from a Rasmuson Foundation grant and support the remodeling of the new branch library in the Eagle River Town Center when it opens.
There were other requests for assistance to fund local projects and resolve nagging issues. Anchorage Assemblyman Bill Starr requested funds for the Consortium of Community Councils to complete the development of a set of land use regulations for the Chugiak-Eagle River area. Clovis Roberts wants the state to intervene in the ongoing debate over involving power generation.
“ML&P (Municipal Light & Power), Chugach and Homer Electric are talking about merging, and MEA (Matanuska Electric Association) wants to build its own power plant,” Roberts said. “We need someone to step in and protect the Alaskans who count on these utilities for electricity, no matter what happens with the local natural gas supply.”
Stoltze addressed Roberts' concern.
“That's one of the reasons the governor vetoed the (Railbelt) Energy Fund,” he said. “To keep every utility from getting in a big fight to get their piece of the money. We need some better operating agreements and production agreements. On consolidation, I'd hate to see the city government, which owns ML&P, become the energy behemoth and maybe eventually swallow up MEA as well. Consolidation sometimes scares me.”
The meeting concluded with Dyson praising the residents who attended for their involvement in the process.
“I've said it before that we have the best-informed people living in the Chugiak-Eagle River area,” Dyson said. “When you look at that with the superior job the local road and parks boards do for the community and the excellent fire protection provided by the best volunteer fire department in the state, I wonder why we aren't moving forward with separating ourselves from all the nonsense that comes from the folks south of us on the Glenn Highway.”
The legislators will be in town again March 22 for another town hall meeting at the Chugiak Senior Center.
Reach the reporter at darrell.breese@alaskastar.com.
