A friend of mine, long time Alaska resident e-mailed this post pipe dreams to me and asked me to put it on KOS as he knows I am here often. I have read this post several times and find it hard to see how the good citizens of Alaska can not surround Governor Palin and send her packing. Follow me below and be amazed.
During the Presidential campaign Sarah Palin went to great lengths to make it known that she was responsible for building the $40 billion natural gas pipeline from Alaska's north slope. This project has been bantered around for many years but with natural gas prices at $2.00 ber MMbtu it was not profitable for the Oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp, BP and ConocoPhillips Company to think about piping natural gas to the lower 48. Instead they used the gas to inject into their oil wells, increasing the pressure, to up the output of the oil wells. About 10 years ago, when the price rose to over $3.00 per btu the Oil Companies thought that was the price point where they would consider shipping natural gas out of Alaska. Last year the price spiked to more than $12.00 per btu but has settled at about $4.75. They control the product, thus they control when and how to ship.
Enter Sarah Palin. In 2007 the Alaska Gas Inducement Act (AGIA) was born. Under it's terms the state would pay up to $500 million in startup money to the company it selected to build the pipeline. She was determined to make the Oil Companies the villans and the root of all evil in Alaska. Now I don't know if that is true, partly true or just BS but she managed to write the Act in such a way that really raised the ire of the good old boys at Exxon, ConocoPhillips and BP. Provisions in the act such as the state refusing to set sales tax rates in advance or even tell them how it would be calculated discouraged the Oil Companies from participating in the process. If they didn't know at what rate they would be taxed at it made it impossible for them to determine profitability. In fact, only one company, TransCanada, a Canadian based firm bid on the job. They were awarded the contract. Big problem. They did not control the natural gas. Sarah Palin has pissed off they players who had control of it and they were not going to play nice.
BP and ConocoPhillips launched their own project in response to AGIA. It is Denali the Alaska Gas Pipeline. After 30 years of non action now they have two pipelines in the works. One sponsored by the state with no gas to flow through it the other by the people who had some of the gas. TransCanada was hot to cozy up to Exxon because they were not on board with either,effectively telling Gov. Palin, if Exxon is not happy we are not happy. Now she has pledged $500 million dollars to a foreign company who has to play nice with the Oil company that she has pissed off.
There is no pipeline. There is a $500 million pipe dream to nowhere payable to a foreign company and Alaska still doesn't have a damn thing to show for it. For the foreseeable future, none of the parties are interested in moving forward and Sarah Palin is still playing games. How is it in anyones best interest for a foreign company to control that much of our fuel?
After the glorious election of Barack Obama, Sarah Palin was once again just plain Sarah the Governor of Alaska. Her meteoric rise to fame was almost as fast as her crash down to reality after the fall of the evil empire. The following is an excerp about her first press conference after returning in defeat. As she greeted by the press corps (4-5 reporters and a couple of cameramen in flannel shirts) she must have felt like Cinderella in reverse. Where were the throngs of reporters that hung on her every word, aslo.
She put on her stiffest upper lip. “Good to be here!” she chirped. “Good to be here.” She waved and winked. “A lot to do, as every day is a full day here in the governor’s office, so, ah, anxious to get to talk to the folks who have been holdin’ down the fort and workin’ real hard also, but, ah, you know, it’s gonna be busy days here, just like it was busy days on the trail, ’cause bein’ the governor’s a full ti…a full time…in addition to bein’ a candidate. Now, of course, we get to concentrate just on...one of those.” The last three words—“one of those”—emerged with jaws so tightly clenched that it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a broken molar pop out.
There is a lot of insight in this article as to her personality and mindset. It is not just about oil companies and pipelines. It is definitely worth the time to read.