Dunleavy wants to attack Biden, while seeking billions in gas line subsidy

Frank Richards, the president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., spoke to a Fairbanks group Tuesday about the first phase of the proposed gas pipeline, which would run from the North Slope to Fairbanks.

The session with a group that studies Fairbanks energy matters was a slight improvement over his presentation to the AGDC board Feb. 4, one in which he never mentioned that the first phase would require a 75 percent federal subsidy.

A half-hour into his presentation, he got to the gas line reveal party—that this would be a federal public works project unlike anything in Alaska history, founded on the dream of getting a $4.5 billion grant.

Alaska news organizations have so far presented misleading accounts of the gas line dream that downplay or leave out the dependence on free federal money.

Richards said the federal government may spend trillions on infrastructure to help rebuild the U.S. economy and the gas line should be in line for a subsidy.

“So for Alaska if we’re able to raise our hand and identify about a four-and-a-half billion dollar ask for what we call a critical piece of infrastructure, that’s our goal in talking to Congress,” he said.

“It’s a $5.9 billion clean energy infrastructure initiative that would have significant benefits, not only in terms of creating jobs, but providing a cleaner burning, lower cost energy for the Interior of Alaska and ultimately for Alaskans along the pipeline route,” Richards told the group, assembled electronically. “It will address the air pollution problems and ultimately, through the sale of gas offshore, it will help with the issues around climate change.”

The AGDC is paying former Gov. Sean Parnell and former Sen. Mark Begich hundreds of dollars an hour, through the big consulting firms that employ them.

“So that team that was Gov. Dunleavy’s economic assistance team when Covid first hit, they’re working again together to help us draft the message and present this to Congress and other organizations, to hopefully gain a foothold to move this project forward,” Richards said.

There is a big difference between what Parnell and Begich did a year ago as unpaid volunteers and what they are doing now.

In April, they put their names on a press release, printed with no questions asked by many Alaska newspapers, that endorsed the overall Dunleavy solution to the pandemic—raid the Permanent Fund and distribute as much cash as possible.

Parnell is now getting $450 an hour, while Begich is probably getting a similar amount.

Under the Dunleavy plan, while $4.5 billion would come from the federal government, $1.5 billion would come from a private company.

The vision outlined by Richards is that the various local power plants in Fairbanks would switch to natural gas, including the Fort Wainwright plant and others, and the private company would build the lateral line connecting the pipeline to Fairbanks from a point to the west of the community,

Several things strike me as noteworthy.

First, I wonder if Dunleavy’s enthusiasm for a gasline subsidy has anything to do with the possibility that this could put a damper on the Usibelli Coal Mine. Joe Usibelli is a leader of the recall movement.

Second, this would mean spending $5.9 billion to get gas supplies to 100,000 people in the Fairbanks area. That is expensive and it will be hard to sell to Congress and the Biden administration, even with the argument that subsidizing the first phase would make the second phase to tidewater far more economical.

Third, the governor and the AGDC keep downplaying the federal subsidy when they talk about this dream, which is giving Alaskans the wrong idea about the financial foundation of this project.

“The good news is that, in addition to private funding, there is a strong possibility of federal funding,” Dunleavy said in a dishonest press release.

“Backed by significant private sector interest, and the real possibility of funding from the federal government, this opportunity to create thousands of construction jobs couldn’t come at a more opportune time for our state,” Dunleavy claimed.

There is no point in trying to hide the reality that this would be a federal project. Dunleavy, who wants to attack Biden and the Democrats at every opportunity, will find that is not the best way to get billions in a gas line subsidy from Biden and the Democrats.

Fourth, we have to ask if this is the best way to put unemployed Alaskans to work?

Fifth, as former Sen. Gary Wilken said at the meeting, with an additional $100 million, the Susitna hydro project could advance to the construction phase and that makes more sense for Alaska as a long-term supply of renewable energy.

Sixth, Richards said that a unified approach is needed.

“As long as we can show some uniform support of a project, as opposed to sniping at each other, this is the only way we’re going actually be able to achieve any funding,” he said.

Given the enormous size of the federal subsidy that Dunleavy supports to define this project as practical, expect plenty of sniping.

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