Want more Alaska mining to combat China? Let's start with increasing the 1955 tax rate

The endless caterwauling about how we need to increase mining in Alaska for national security reasons is deceptive.

Listen to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Rep. Nick Begich the Third and the other Trumpist Alaska Republicans on the subject and you’ll never hear them admit that this has more to do with profits for foreign mining companies than patriotism.

They don’t say this out loud, but the foreign mining companies trying to develop mines in Alaska are exemplars of free enterprise, hoping to make a buck.

Let’s go into this with all the facts, however, one of which is that Alaska mining tax rates, set in 1955 before Alaska became a state, need to be updated to protect the interests of Alaskans.

Dunleavy is in Dubai at the moment, pleading with rich people to drill, mine or otherwise exploit Alaska resources.

Alaska has everything the nation needs to deal with China, Dunleavy claimed in a Fox News epistle written for him by a state employee or a contract PR worker.

“The Chinese Communist Party is not our ally and it is time that we started acting like it. Our current status as trading partners has been an uneasy and unsustainable relationship of convenience for decades now and we can now fully see the effects of allowing that relationship to make us dependent on them for our economic well-being and the instruments of our daily lives,” according to Dunleavy.

The Alaska fishing industry is dependent on China, but Dunleavy wants to talk about mining.

“Fortunately, the United States is more than equipped to meet this moment thanks to our northernmost state. Alaska is not only rich in energy, but also endowed with an enormous abundance of mineral resources across the state. All we need to do is simply take advantage of what we already have available. Alaska is home to 49 of 50 critical minerals like the ones China does not want us to have.”

Dunleavy claimed that Alaskans have shown that environmental protection and large-scale mining go hand in hand. “We can do both successfully, and we have for centuries,” claimed Dunleavy, who should have had someone check the math.

When I read the words of Dunleavy’s ghost writer, I thought about how much I miss people like the late Sen. Clem Tillion, one of many former Alaska Republicans who would have no place in Trump’s party.

It was Tillion’s view that if we’re going to have mining, then we need to make sure the taxes and royalties are enough to make it worthwhile for Alaskans.

Tillion’s friend, the late Gov. Jay Hammond, was of a similar mind, always warning about the “rape, ruin and run boys” with an eye on Alaska’s resources.

You don’t hear any of that from Dunleavy, Sullivan, Begich or the rest.

It’s time for the Alaska Legislaure to modernize the mining tax laws in Alaska, which have gone mostly untouched since before statehood. There is much more to say about this.

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