Dan Fagan and I moderated a gubernatorial forum sponsored by the Mat-Su Business Alliance on Friday at Evangelo’s in Wasilla. Before a crowd of about 250, Gov. Sean Parnell and his running mate Mayor Dan Sullivan, along with their opponents Bill Walker and Byron Mallott, fielded questions, mostly from the audience, for 90 minutes. It was a very engaged crowd and it was anything but boring. Because I was participating in the forum, I couldn’t take notes. However, here’s what I saw and the highlights as I remember them and taken from a recording I made:
- Bill Walker made it clear that if elected, DNR Commissioner Joe Balash would no longer be working as commissioner. It’s too bad. Balash has been a diligent public servant with a trove of knowledge about oil and gas issues. Over the years, he’s been sympathetic to Walker’s pipeline plans, particularly when he worked with Sarah Palin’s administration on AGIA. However, he recently wrote a scathing column about Walker and the Port Authority. Walker’s people fired back, and so it goes.
- Todd Palin sat at the Walker family/staff table. There were lots of Palinistas in the crowd.
- Gov. Parnell admitted that his appointment of the Californian to the State Assessment Review Board was a mistake.
- Walker said that all appointees on state boards and commissions would be state residents in his administration. (Doesn’t the state Aerospace Board have a seat specified for an astronaut?)
- Parnell, Sullivan and Walker are pro-life. Mallott is pro-choice.
- One of the major disagreements between the two came over the gas pipeline. Parnell and Walker sharply disagreed on approaches. Walker stuck to his guns about the state owning 51 percent of the line. As conceived now, the state will be partners with trans-Canada to own 25 percent interest in the project, with an option to take a 40 percent interest down the road. It was a more affordable, less risky and politically palatable deal that taking more interest in the line now, particularly given the ever-changing gas market. All told, the project is expected to cost $60 billion or more. Lawmakers passed legislation to allow the state to proceed with the contract. It passed the Senate 16-4 and the House 36-4. It was an arduous effort to get it passed. Walker continued to say that renegotiating the amount that Alaska owned did not constitute scrapping the whole contract and starting over, which raised more than a few eyebrows in the room.
- Parnell wouldn’t commit to having a more bi-partisan administration, as Walker has committed to.
- Walker said that he would probably forward Parnell’s proposed budget to the legislature on Dec. 15 if elected. If he wins, he’ll be sworn in on Dec. 1, and he said that he wouldn’t have time to submit hi own budget.
- Crystal Nygard, executive director of the Mat-Su Business Alliance wore a hard hat, fluorescent orange safety vest and red industrial coveralls. It took me a moment to realize that she was dressed for Halloween. Two women dressed as witches. At least one person wore a “Captain Zero” T-shirt.
- Bill Walker is in litigation of the constitutionality of the way Point Thomson was settled. If he wins, he said he would drop the suit against the state.
- Although both candidates vowed to cut state spending, neither was specific about what it would be that they would cut.
- Parnell and Sullivan were far more committal on the Knik Bridge project than Walker and Mallott. Walker said that he thought the project was important, but would have to compare it to other projects around the state and prioritize. He did however say that he would not have vetoed the $55 million in last year’s budget for the project.
- Walker was bullish on finishing the spur line that would link Port MacKenzie with the AK Railroad main line near Houston. All told, the project is expected to cost $300 million. The Mat-Su Borough still needs $120 million to finish the project. It’s asking the Legislature for $116 million appropriation next session.
- Mallott, who sounded especially strong and confident in his beliefs and positions–particularly when it comes to caring for the least of us–admitted that he smokes an occasional expensive cigar, which got him some applause.
- There were five former Valdez mayors in the room: Bill Walker, John Harris, Bert Cottel, Stephen McAlpine, and Lynn Chrystal. None of them live in Valdez anymore.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Agreement will still be in place, though. Unless Walker’s going to try to scrap that, too, and tank the progress happening up there.
@MHP… Thank You for demonstrating Anti-Gravity to us,
we can all learn from your excellent skills.
For those of you who want to pump Alaska dry to chase after a Megaproject..
..a megapipeline into the Permanant Fund is not nearly as important as:
fixing Fukushima, and all the other NukeMess worldwide.
The same league of “geniuses” who designed AK-LNG should learn something from the disaster at WIPP-Carlsbad.
At least Alaska can claim that the League of Morons who have been wasting 80% of Alaska’s hydrocarbons for the past 40 years are just a tiny bit smarter than the Army of Idiots who have been trashing the planet with suicidal NukePower for the past 60 years.
….there is a Ray of Hope still shining in this mind-boggling mess >>
All of the thousands of tons of toxic and extremely dangerous NukeWaste & FuelRods stockpiled in shaky-storage nationwide STILL HAS 97% of it’s total energy remaining..
..[ this is why it’s so toxic-dangerous ]
A technology started in the 1940’s and postulated by Dr.Radha Roy is now being dusted off and reapplied to fully annihilate and eliminate all this stupid rotten mess.
… Beam-Activated Molten Salt Reactors.
Responsible application of this technology dictates we establish the global actinides inventory in deep underground tunnels located in the 3.2billion year old bedrock of the Laurentian Shield surrounding Hudsons Bay… this is the most stable bedrock in the planet.
….but there’s a upside to this toxic waste management project that should give all Alaskans some pause to reconsider taking a risky position pushing for a gas megaproject;
******** it produces an astounding amount of electric power far beyond all the nukepower produced today…
…this will significantly displace the energy needs in much Alaska’s gas export market.
[ and many of you thought the fracking boom in L48 was bad for Alaska ]
******** 🙂
Frank….
AOGCC has been totally owned by Regulatory Capture since before TAPS was built, it’s staffed entirely by Petrotheologists trained in the Texas tradition of willful ignorance.
AOGCC is built upsidedown, insideout, and backwards.
AOGCC has been throwing the baby out with the bathwater for 50 years..
..they refuse to understand HYDROGEN.
..and don’t bother asking them about Alaska’s Helium.
I nominate Harold Heinze to be the new head of AOGCC.
The assumption that oilfields must be pressurized by the available associated gas is totally 19th Century obsolete nonsense as useful as a warehouse full of buggywhips.
100% of Alaska’s hydrocarbons can be efficiently recovered, including all of the crude, coal, and biomass by using “modern” technology developed in the 1950-60’s…
…and this “new” technology is even more refined now in the 21stCentury.
********Since before 1967 we have had the Westinghouse & General Electric technology available to totally de-couple crude oil recovery from gas production.
One of the methods used is PLASMA GASIFICATION, there are many other methods of equal utility.
== even a bargeload of old rubber tires can be used to repressurize an old flat oilfield.
..plus we have many methods of in-situ non-pyrolitic gasification [supercritical & electrochemical]
Educating Alaskans in Anchorage is like training a herd of buffalo to march and play music at half-time during the game…
…Alaskans in the village are smarter than this.
Anchorage buffalo are the offspring of crossbred Texas buffalo.
some Texans are pretty smart, like T.Boone Pickens…
he witnessed oil&gas fracking being developed in the 1950’s,
but Alaskans didn’t know about the potentials & pitfalls of fracking until 2010.
I’m really tired of seeing Alaskans being farmed like mushrooms.
Yeah Jon K, I’m not totally ignorant of the details of the proposed goofy gasline all you “experts” have dumped into Alaska…
The current plan still has many dangerous flaws..
take the silly proposed gasline suspension bridge over the Yukon River for example;
I won’t go into details for security reasons, but some smartass kid from Tanana will eventually figure out how to take that bridge out for less than 500bucks and it will be such a clever trick a “genius” like you will never figure out how it happened, and everybody will think it was a freak accident of bad engineering… only after it happens the third time will you begin to get suspicious…
…IMHO; that bridge is a bad idea, what worked for the TAPS-pipe over the Tanana at BigD will not work over the Yukon.
…it’s a dead end for big-boat navigation too, just because not many big-boats travel there now is not a good reason to block the river off for the future, things change, I might want to drive a big barge up there in the future.
Click on my nickname above for a clue about how I would solve this problem for much less than the cost estimates for that goofy bridge.
I have already done my own geotech study of a handy & stable gravel lens that sits on the bottom of the Yukon as part of the shoal forming Sightas Island just downstream of the Patton Bridge…
this a good spot for micro-tunneling a 52″ utilidor tunnel.
call: 253 447 2300 for more details on procuring the proper tunneling equipment
….I have ten-thousand other valuable suggestions far more useful than picking out this little flaw.
See “Jeremy’s” comment at the bottom of this thread.
I can’t believe I’m engaging with this guy, but the pipeline will not cost $65 billion. It will cost $10-15 billion and the costs are so high because building a pipeline over mountain passes, tundra, permafrost, rivers, and under the Cook inlet is pricey. The rest of the $50+ billion price tag is associated with a massive gas treatment plan to strip the CO2 from the gas, and the world’s largest liquefaction plants. If you include the Point Thomson build-out (more wells, more facilities, pads, gas line to PB, compression, etc.) you may get to around $65 billion or so.
Australia is currently building a $50+ billion LNG project, so our costs are in range with the competition.
For Alaska’s sake, I really, really hope Crude is not part of the Walker crew. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he was.
I see it entirely differently. It seems to me that the courts should look unkindly when someone files a lawsuit in order to use the courts to obtain a job. If the complaint has merit then it has merit whether or not the plaintiff obtains the job he wants. If a member of the court does is the plaintiff then that is worse. But that is what it amounts to when a lawsuit can be withdrawn if the defendants – Alaskans in this case – give the plaintiff a job. That said, if the courts can decide the Walker-Mallot ticket as assembled after Mallot and French won the primary is legal then the courts can do anything they want. I no longer believe in the legitimacy of Alaska courts.
Some people wring their hands over supposed low voter turnout. When I look at Alaska courts I am amazed that more people don’t drop out of participating in the theater we call government. I always vote but I know many people who do not, and they make the case to me that I am being duped. Alaska courts don’t help me make my case.
Crude is Rude is a total loser. An unhappy man who obviously feels insignificant if not irrelevant. He wishes to be anonymous to play in his imagination the role he wished he’d played in the development of TAPS. His condition is similar to what Mead Treadwell suffers from that was pointed out in the primary campaign as “mythamania.” The similarities are so great that one might hypothesize that they are the same!
Twan,
What lies are you talking about? Do you care to back that accusation up with facts or proof? Of course not, because you don’t have any.
In case some people on here don’t know, Tom Wright is running Parnell’s campaign and is behind the lies and negativity of the Parnell campaign. Seems like if Parnell was really a “good guy”, he wouldn’t surround himself with such trash…. referring to the lies AND Tom Wright. Zero integrity for captain zero.
parnellbreakdown is the web site to see a pic of Parnell with a migraine headache while working under the pressure of Regulatory Capture…
..it doesn’t look good for poor Sean’s health, he looks tired for age 51.
********now, you tell me why you think it will cost $65billion to build a gasline across Alaska in the TAPS ROW most of the way, and the AKRR ROW the rest of the way….
…when Russia volunteers to build an 860 mile subsea gasline to Japan for $6billion.
********
Russia offers to construct gas pipeline from Russia’s Sakhalin to Japan — Nikkei
October 15, 2014
TOKYO, October 15. /TASS/. Russia proposed to Japan to discuss an idea of building a gas pipeline from Russia’s Far Eastern island Sakhalin to the northernmost Japanese city of Wakkanai on Hokkaido Island and further to the main territory of the country, the leading Japanese business newspaper Nikkei said on Wednesday.
Russian government was reported to offer Japan to build a gas pipeline which would connect Sakhalin and Hokkaido Island. If the project is implemented, this will be a first gas pipeline linking Japan with another country, Nikkei reported. The news report was not confirmed officially.
The idea to build a gas pipeline from Russia to Japan has already been debated at the level of experts for many years, but did not reach the level of practical talks. However, the Japanese parliament has a group of lawmakers who call for support to this undertaking.
“A project of laying a gas pipeline from Sakhalin to Tokyo on the seabed along Japanese coast has been raised in the previous years,” general secretary of this parliamentary group and lawmaker of the lower house from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Naokazu Takemoto told TASS earlier. “However, many problems arose over fishing rights and protection of marine bioresources,” he noted.
“Our current project implies a gas pipeline to the Tokyo city zone on the ground from a district of the city of Wakkanai. From this Japanese city to Sakhalin, this pipeline will be built on the bottom of La Perouse Strait in a non-fishing area. This pipe will be also laid through the Tsugaru Strait between islands Hokkaido and Honshu. We do not find any ecological problems in this issue, as everything will be planned according to governmental ecological safety rules,” Naokazu said.
Japanese experts estimated that a gas pipeline from Sakhalin Island to the Ibaraki Prefecture next to the Greater Tokyo will stretch for a total 1,350km. Spending for its construction is evaluated at 600 billion yens (slightly less than $6 billion). Twenty billion cubic meters can be delivered through this gas pipeline from Sakhalin annually.
Or liberals for that matter.
Haha….I don’t have time for this, but here we go:
1) It’s already been established Parnell’s accusation of a backroom deal couldn’t be more false and was addressed in the channel 2 debate. Parnell supporters just can’t believe that two people would put the state of Alaska ahead of a political party, because they sure can’t.
2) They lied about Walker’s income and had to submit a correction.
3) Lied about Walker supporting an income tax
4) Doctored a recording to make it sound like walker was “anti-oil” (which everybody knows couldn’t be further from the truth) They have since removed the doctored audio. (admitting guilt)
Those are just a few, but there’s been many more just like these and other intentional “mis-quotings” and out of context lies. It’s time all Alaskans see Parnell, his campaign and supports for what they are. There dirty politics and lack of ethics and morals should be appalling to Alaskans who want good, fair and trustworthy people running our state. We need Walker/Mallott.
Budget busting is a concern of true conservatives. However, it’s should be a really big deal to Mr. Walker because he has made budgets a centerpiece of his campaign for many, many months, except for when it conflicts with what he’s promising to certain groups. Between Walker and Ms. Clift, she’s got more credibility on the issue, because she’s consistent that budget must be cut, and that means not making feel-good promises to get support.
Frank, If you are not embarrassed to use your name you ought to be. You and Randy Ruedrich are the worst thing that ever happened to the Republican Party in this state.
I was at the debate yesterday and NEITHER candidate gave any specifics on cutting the budget. Parnell has seen and worked with the state’s budget, which should have made it easy for him to come up with items to be cut, but he didn’t. All he knows how to do is spend and balloon the states budget out of control. Parnell is the reason we are in a $7 million/day deficit. SEVEN MILLION A DAY! He doesn’t know how to balance a budget or make difficult cuts and that’s a proven commodity. At least with Walker we can have hope our state will become fiscally responsible. Once he’s in office he’ll have a chance to look at every department and address some tough cuts that Parnell simply couldn’t.
If you get a change access the document dump at the link provided at The Dispatch. It’s sort of clumsy but you can actually review the documents.
Starting at Page 324 and running for several pages is a spreadsheet of all the reports of sexual assault being tracked by the Guard. It’s got some redactions but It also shows very plainly, Over time, all reports taken by them had been referred to either APD,AST or CID in that order of frequency.
Shockingly, APD received literally dozens of these cases and closed every single one without an arrest or prosecution.
AST did a bit better, they did not get as many cases referred to them and in several, an arrest is pending.
Of additional note: in 2011, One case that was referred to APD had involved dozens of Guard and USMC recruits at the Anchorage MEPPS Station (not a guard function) and it appears from the spreadsheet that the alleged perpetrator had been a Doctor who had been a contractor at the MEPPS Station. MEPPS fired the Doctor and the case was given to APD.
Dozens of victims at one location with one perpetrator… APD again can’t manage to find any criminal violation…case closed.
While the guard and the governor have their own issues, It appears as though there is something very wrong over at APD.
@Frank McQueary: Yeah and we know who you are. And we sure as hell know how CREDIBLE you are. Why don’t you just buzz off. Seriously. Keep up with the pertinent conversations like an adult, otherwise just buzz off will ya. And Frank, keep in mind I know who you are and what your credibility is in the state of Alaska, especially where Anchorage politics is concerned. And in my eyes that credibility SUCKS. So name or no name, credibility is irrelevant.
I agree that it does seem odd, but right now he is litigating against the improper process Parnell and his staff took. So once they are gone and Walker is in office, the offenders he was litigating against will no longer be there. That’s how I see it.
Jeremy,
You’re delusional. What lies are you accusing Parnell of saying? Are you blind? Have you no truth meter that goes off with Walker’s flip-flopping, backroom deal, attack ads?
Well said, Garrand. I agree. I found it dubious myself.
@Amanda, can you ask those questions and shake some trees for answers to repor them here BEFORE election day? I have faith in you! 😉
Well said Jerry, even though I don’t appreciate the language near the end. I think Parnell has twisted many things that Walker has said and done, in order to confuse people and think he’s against a pipeline. This is his passion and he will stop at nothing to get that project complete. He is a true Alaskan (not a politician) that will always do what’s best for Alaska.
Right, Tom. Bill Walker is lazy on top of it. He is all talk and no plan, no morals, no convictions. He will say anything to get elected. God help us if he were elected.
Ask the people at Channel 13 how he showed up unprepared all the time for the shooting of his TV show there.
Walker litigated to get Point Thompson open and Parnell even conceded that it wouldn’t have happened without Walker’s efforts. So, there you go attempting to reinforce the lies you’ve been told. Walker also said his most recent litigation had to do with Parnell’s people not following protocol and will drop the suit when elected. So, no, his litigation will most definitely NOT stop any progress in the gas line process. So you don’t count the hundreds of millions he gave to TransCanada for the Parnell supported Canadian line a different project? Did we get a receipt for that and return it when Parnell realized Walker was right all along with the large volume line through Alaska? Does the uneconomical small volume bullet line not count as a different project? Parnell’s lack of good judgment could not be more evident. As far as the Asian buyers that came wanting to buy 200% of the gas if a large volume LNG line could be built. Because it wasn’t “binding”, should not stop discussions from taking place. If you had your truck for sale and a creditable person, with a lot of money and interest in buying your truck said, “I’d like to talk to you about buying your truck”, would you not want to meet with them? Alaska had something to sell and people wanting to buy it, but Parnell refused to TALK with them. Bad judgment. We need a governor that’s going to show good judgment and listen to people who are trying to give the state billions of dollars. Parnell is still hiding the terms of his LNG project because I’m sure he left it up to the producers to decide the timeline and the power to pause the process whenever they see fit, while they finish other projects around the world. Alaska has become the oil companies’ bitch and they are abusing us because Parnell lets them.
parnellbreakdown is the web site to see what Parnell is really all about. A venal, incompetent, fool who is destroying our great state. Parnell is so bad his only supporters are his employees who do not want to have to make it in the real world.
The actions of Tom Wright are disgusting. Same goes for with Curtis Thayer.
We have campaign emails going to state employees at work. We have Thayer using state resources to mail Parnell propaganda… We have Parnell campaign people stealing property that does not belong to them… Thayer was the one who went for the HIGH bidder to paint the Gov’s Mansion. $1.5 million for a high bidder that was NOT qualified to do the work.
Ah
I meant to say ON THE PART OF THE ADMINISTRATION”; however, “party” might just fit.
Ah,
This situation eventually begged for a special prosecutor and people certainly more educated than I have agreed. Parsing it into separate efforts simply was not providing closure- and still hasn’t after years. The Administration was being overwhelmed by this and they should have known they were making little progress toward resolution after all that time. That failure to enact the solution with the most probable and lasting result is the striking omission on the party of the Administration and its’ leader.
No name..no credibility.
Someone who is embarrassed to use the own name and reputation has zero credibility. If you are as experienced and knowledgeable as you say why don’t you explain how you would have gotten AOGCC to let anyone, much less an attorney with no capital partners, no customers, no suppliers agreements and no construction partners, use the gas for anything other than field pressurization for all these many years.
I am tending to agree regarding the Emails. I spent several hours with them last night and while admittedly incomplete and well redacted the only way they really fit the story line we have been fed by the Dispatch is if one looks for the things that match their stories and ignore the parts that don’t fit.
1. Is there a significant leadership problem at the national guard? Yep
2. All the way to the top? Yep
3. Did the Governor ignore it? I looks as of the leadership problems at the air guard were eventually handled .
4. Sexual assault: as far as I can see, this had the attention of the Tag and the Chief of Staff on a very regular basis. All reports were forwarded to Law Enforcement as appropriate predominantly to APD and AST.
**** Note: here is something not discussed: APD received most of these reported Major Crimes, and claims to have investigated all that they received and closed them all as either unfounded or not enough evidence to prosecute. REALLY?? THAT is astounding not one open case? not one prosecution? not even an arrest from APD?
AST did somewhat better, several of their cases remain open (meaning they have not given up and that the investigation is progressing) and they have arrests pending in several cases.
Tom,
If I might….I don’t find it amazing at all that a candidate for office of Governor would not have a detailed budget plan. What resources, as compared to a sitting Governor, does a candidate have to produced a viable plan that wouldn’t and couldn’t and shouldn’t be picked apart by the incumbent? Our current Govnernor made plans that busted us – so much for plans.
Remember Jon, AGIA was mortally wounded immediately by the Denali project and the State tolerated that maneuver. The State ignored the market changes caused by shale gas for several years and kept writing checks to Trans Canada for upwards now of 340 million dollars. The State was so inept they allowed the contract with Transcanada to not clearly defining when AGIA was not viable exposing us perpetually to treble damages for breach. Walker tried to salvage that disaster and got no co-operation from Parnell. Yet you continue to have full faith that somehow the State Government is “pure of heart” has now figured out how to play in this league.
So you are now suggesting you have proof of “no wrong doing” in the Alaska National Guard? If you are referring to the two I.G. investigations prompted by Begich and Murkowski, they met the scope of their charge which was to review available documentation provided by Katkus for evidence of a cover up. That was a much focused review. Why then did the National Guard Bureau investigation not support the Army I.G. findings and that investigation was still focused on the internal guard management. You know that a special prosecutor could be issuing subpoenas to the Parnell Administration under penalty of perjury and that is ominous to you.
Balash is probably the least qualified DNR commissioner in history. His only qualification is that he was a legislative staff-person… And that he’s a nice guy.
I see some of you Parnell supporters making comments about Walker’s gasline plans as a “do over”….
IMHO: Packing several hundred million dollars into a rathole in a studied effort to pack another $45-65billion into the same bottomless rathole is just plain insanity.
Too many of you Alaskans are struck on stupid with;
“Dear God, Please give us another pipeline, we PROMISE we won’t piss this one away too !!”
Many wise old Alaskans like me working on infrastructure development see signs of further collapse of the market for AK-LNG shipped by tankership to Asia .
It’s goofy to see Parnell’s crowd keep chanting $45-65billion when there is a shortage of LNG-tankerships to haul all this LNG to Asia. And to expect those ships to be owned by the Asian Buyers is very poor business practice. This tilts the negotiated price of the LNG to Singapore-Hub away from Henry-Hub.
Some of us in Walkers camp have identified other even better world-class markets for Alaska’s export LNG than bulk ocean maritime shipping…
…it’s best to hold your cards close to your chest & diversify, not putting all your eggs in one basket.
In 1970-75 while working on building TAPS I began to realize it should be a “do over” as a GASLINE, not a CRUDEpipe…
…….. and for the past 40 years the entire petrochemical system surrounding TAPS operates at less than 20% overall thermodynamic efficiency…
…this means 80% of the potential revenue of TAPS has been wasted.
September 1, 2014. – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli have launched the construction of the first part of Gazprom’s Power of Siberia pipeline – which will deliver 4 trillion cubic meters of gas to China over 30 years.
“The new gas branch will significantly strengthen the economic cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and above all – our key partner China,” Putin said at the ceremony outside the city of Yakutsk – the capital of Russia’s Republic of Yakutia on Monday.
>>>> Looks like Joe Balash was 10 years late to the Asian Gas Party, Wally Hickel wasn’t I have a picture of Wally in China.
Even Japan is now building a subsea gasline to Sakhalin…
If Alaskan’s can’t figure out how to deliver 4bcdf of methane to any ice-free deepwter port for less than $4billion CAPEX, then step aside and I’ll show you how.
….. I have ZERO patience with a population of pathetic parasitic speculative boondogglers.
Jon,
I forgot to point out that Parnell’s opting out of Medicade expansion while “always looking for better health insurance for Alaskans” (while he and his family have government provided health insurance),is certainly both cost effective and pleases his hero Rick Perry of Texas. I hope Parnell will ask the Governor of New Jersey who is supporting Parnell why New Jersey expanded Medicade?
It is very revealing that Walker indeed has no budget plan. I am probably going to submit the governor’s proposed budget on December 15th. Anyone else catch that? Amazing.
Lynn, you keep moving the goal posts. Nice try. AGIA was written to allow for AGPA to come forward and purchase capacity so it could get gas to Valdex. Walker didn’t deliver. He admitted in 2010 he didn’t. When a project needs binding commitments none of Walker’s clients come to the door. Walker does a great job getting non-binding expressions of interest, but he has never deliverered when the chips are down.
Lynn, why did at least two major investigations into the ANG reveal no wrongdoing?
Whoops – once again i put the wrong name it. The above responding to Lynn’s misapprehensions is from me .
Jon (I assume this is you)
Then why didn’t Parnell pursue the Alaskan route with just a bit more effort? Why didn’t he admit to Ethan Berkowitz in the 2010 debates the AGIA open season results? Trans Canada won either way as they are now our “partners” in the next iteration? If top companies can build this line then let them and let us act in the role of the sovereign to extract payment for our resources – not be just a bumbling cash cow to them.
Read the E-mail from Chaplain Craven to Parnell’s Chief of Staff to see how effective Parnell’s crew was handling this scandal. Then read the pitiful response to the Chaplain including the line about “endless meetings with leadership” I wonder who that leadership was? I am sure if Parnell is re-elected we will never know.
Who could possibly respond to gibberish?
Since when did “budget busting” become a concern of conservatives in Alaska?
Lynn, It is getting very tiresome correcting basic factual errors. AGIA had an instate LNG option – TransCanada and Exxon were obligated to bring the gas to Valdez. They held an “open season” in 2010 to see if any customers wanted to purchase capacity in the pipeline. During this process customers needed to nominate where they wanted the gas – Valdez or Canada. Walker and AGPA had a golden opportunity to finally get gas to Valdez. What did they do Lynn? Did they bring customers? No. Walker and AGPA failed.
In short, AGIA was premised on letting the market decide: Canada or Valdez. Nothing in the law require a Canadian pipeline. The market didn’t express an interest in Valdez in 2010 which is why the companies kept pursuing a Canadian option.
The AK LNG project is being led by the top companies in the world. Collectively they have tremendous expertise on producing gas from PB and PT, Article gas treatment, arctic pipelines, LNG facilities, and shipping LNG from Alaska to Asia. These companies have their top talent working this project. Why wouldn’t we want to participate in this process with them in the lead? How Walker thinks we can do a better job leading this project is just insane.
Party politics have not trumped this project. 52 legislators, from Mike Hawker to Les Gara, support AK LNG.
Parnell has also said he is looking to get health care coverage to more Alaskans that don’t have health insurance but he wants to do it in a cost effective way. I would think that finding a smarter less expensive alternative would be something you would support.
Re the Nat Guard I would strongly encourage you to read the emails for yourself. What is apparent is the ADN has no interest in covering this story in a fair manner. What you will discover in the emails is that multiple investigations took place into the Guard leadership and no wrongdoing was uncovered. The big elephant in the room is how could this be? The other fact that you will discover is that many cases involving criminal misconduct were referred to law enforcement and some of these were prosecuted. There is a 4 page spreadsheet listing how the cases were handled and disposed. Go read for yourself – the ADN has a narrative and they aren’t going to deviate from it.
Garand,
You make a valid point about the lawsuit being contingent on an election result. That is concerning to me also.
IMHO; Sean Parnell lacks the Real Life Experience to keep himself & the office he occupies beyond the predatory jaws of REGULATORY CAPTURE !!
GOOGLE: regulatory capture
Regulatory capture is a form of political corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.
….further proof of this is that he has allowed a screwball corporation to be the prime consulting contractor for AGDC/ASAP.
And, the actual accounting of the funds paid to these goofy companies are concealed by HB189-27th.
google: agdc saic
google: saic fraud
….OK, I challenge any of you Parnell supporters to debate these details with me.
The AKLNG project has been described as the most expensive gas pipeline project in history. Walker and the people of Alaska were correct when they wanted an in-state gas line to export gas to Asia but Parnell and our legislative majority refused to let go of the AGIA route to Alberta for too long. Yet this same bunch is now to be trusted to now have the business acumen to participate in that most expensive project of this type in history? While I don’t see how we can now afford to participate in any gas line project, at least Walker got it right when Parnell didn’t which might lend credence to Walker’s concerns about being a minority partner.
Of course Parnell will not be willing to participate in any a bipartisan effort. Party politics trumps all other agendas to Sean Parnell. He has already shown he would deny thousands of Alaskans health coverage because of pure party allegiance all while spending billions on the priorities of those who fund his political career like those who produce endless studies for the Knik Arm Bridge, Susitna Dam, and those who still have high paying jobs on the AGDC/ASAP parallel gas pipeline project or the Kodiak Space Port.
Now we have the long delayed and heavily redacted emails from the Parnell administration showing, if nothing else, that certainly the scandal not being effectively or honestly handled at a levels above the Department of the National Guard certainly by a Chief of Staff and other highly compensated Parnell loyalists who acted more like “guardians at the gate” than being effective staff members. We will never know what happened in the National Guard if Sean Parnell is re-elected and the legacy of his and his administration’s gross mismanagement of this affair will linger for decades which is a small price to pay for those on the Parnell gravy train.
Is Bill Walker an unknown – he is; however, I am willing to take a chance with him considering the known performance of the alternative candidate.
Ms. Coyne, Thank you for this great report.
Can it possibly be allowed by whatever ethics the legal profession may have for an attorney to file a lawsuit and then tell defendants and the court that you will drop the suit if they elect (hire) you to be CEO of the defendant organization? Have the legal profession and what Alaska calls democracy gone that far afield?
I must say that the ruling that this Democratic party move to abolish its own ticket post-primary is legal, and now the attorney at the top of this ticket announcing to defendants that we only need elect him for the lawsuit he filed to go away leaves no doubt in my mind that the legal profession can no longer be trusted to police itself. I can tell you for certain that an engineer finding that a bridge just constructed does not comply with engineering standards but if the organization that hired it built hires that same engineer to be CEO he would withdraw that finding would be unethical and the engineer would lose his license. Is there a single non-attorney who disagrees?
Amanda, great job moderating, thanks so much and for the clear reporting on the debate.
As to the LNG project, I asked all the Legislators who were there if what Walker was talking about was a “do over”. All, Lynn Gattis, Charlie Huggins and Shelley Hughes, “Of course it is!”
Maybe when you went to posting this the MSBA Straw poll results were not out Sean Parnell/Dan Sullivan 97 and Bill Walker/Bryon Mallot 77 All the Props were a No, the closes one was Minimum Wage.
I do hope that this is a good snap shot of informed voters and that this predicts a sweep for Sean Parnell.
Amanda, thanks for these notes. And thank you for working that forum.
I am dismayed at the thought that Walker will attempt to renegotiate the gas line. That essentially kills it for our lifetime. The Legislature and the governor worked hard to get a majority of people agreeing on a plan. Will we be set back for another generation by this megalomaniac?
Parnell’s campaign should not have made the mistake on the $2 million. But Walker has done a great disservice to Alaskans by lying about many things. Here are just a few: he said his lawsuit will not shut down Point Thomson when it would. He said that the Point Thomson settlement was “the dirtiest back room deal in the state’s history” when it took four years to negotiate, involved dozens of state employees, and was based on multiple public hearings. He said Parnell’s gas pipeline project has started over four times when the current project is a continuation of AGIA and relies on much of the work completed to date. He has said that he brought the market to Alaska in 2012 to buy gas, but he does not say as that the Asia customers offered NON binding commitments to engage in discussions once the project had credible cost estimates – which is what the project is current trying to get. Walker said the Parnell Administration refused to meet with Japanese customers, when the Administration, including the governor, has had multiple meeting with Japanese, Korean, and Chinese officials and companies since 2011.
Nearly everything Walker says is misleading, a 1/2 truth, or a lie.
If you are so sensitive to the truth and angered by politicians deliberately misleading Alaskans, Walker is not your man.
My gosh, Walker is serious about the 51 percent? AK LNG is dead, or at least will be delayed by years. Why would the companies continue to spend real money, hundreds of millions, and devote top talent to moving this project forward when a Walker Administration refuses to honor contracts blessed by the state legislature? Hopefully Walker will flop back to his previous statements of staying the course. If not, Palin’s guy is going to destroy the state’s best chance of a promising economic future.
I’d also add once again that Walker’s commitments are going to bust the budget.
The lies and rhetoric of parnell’s campaign and the special interests groups has definitely worked on you. “Tens of millions” is so far off …. Parnell’s campaign already had to submit a correction of an earlier lie, when they said Walker made $2 million one year, when it was actually two hundred thousand.
Clearly you’re the simple minded one spouting off unfounded lies you heard on the radio. Please do your research next time before you deliver insults. Parnell has us in a $7 million/DAY deficit, an energy crisis and has a proven lack of leadership (National Guard Scandal). Alaska deperateky needs change. That’s why I voted Walker/Mallott.
What is the love fest that the media has with Walker? Alice Rogoff’s paper can only sing his praises.
Reality is that Walker is an empty head that has taken advantage of Valdez for years. He has been paid tens of millions and has gotten zero results. Anybody voting for this clown has to be retty simple minded – – like Palin supporters.