Congressman Young states favorable AK-BC Intertie position, Wrangell Sentinel

Wrangell Sentinel - the oldest continuously published paper in Alaska.
Alaska’s lone U.S. House Representative visited Wrangell Apr. 14 and Petersburg Apr. 15 to discuss various topics with residents including hydropower development, the recently passed health care bill, Sealaska and timber production.


Republican Don Young used a meeting with members of the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce to reaffirm his decision to run for a 20th term in the House.
“I am running, and will run hard,” Young said.


Young said that hydropower is as important to Southeast residents as the gas line is to the rest of Alaska. He said that hydropower development should be a priority.
“There should be an abundance of hydro power,” he said.


He said that developing an intertie between Southeast communities as well as between Alaska and British Columbia would benefit the local economy.

Click link above for full story in the online edition of the Wrangell Sentinel

Why the posting of the previous story on British Columbia? Why all the stories on this blog about one of our closest neighbors?

The question might better be phrased - why is Northwest BC (and why not Alaska?) the only jurisdiction which is able to export its natural gas to foreign markets? Of course, there are some compelling reasons for this. In BC there is a significant amount of gas line and gas production infrastructure which is already in place. There is also a strong recognition in the petroleum industry that Asia is demanding these resources.

Alaska has surplus natural gas
Still it begs the question. Why are our state political leaders not leading the way in working towards energy production (for internal and export use)? Alaska should be making investments in trade missions to Asia (India, Japan and China) and in infrastructure to make this possible. Alaska has a dedicated right-of-way from the North Slope to Valdez in which to place a natural gas pipeline.

Notwithstanding the agreement with TransCanada, our state ought to be looking at markets outside of North America due to the predicted glut of natural gas into the future. Our state leaders, instead of being myopic ought to be inviting capital investment into Alaska through partnerships.

The development of Alaska resources won't happen in the absence of state involvement. No, I'm not talking socialism, I'm talking about making an investment in time by working with other jurisdictions to determine if foreign industries are interested in partnering on projects which can be of mutual benefit to Alaska and other jurisdictions and companies.

Not just natural gas.
Along the same vein Canada's initiative with the British Columbia Northwest (electrical energy) Transmission Line is an opportunity that Alaska and our federal government ought to be pouncing upon. Alaska (and our federal government) has been invited to participate in this transmission line extension. However, aside from some minimal discussion with BC, nothing has come to the forefront on this.

Unfortunately, the clock is running on this opportunity. The BC Transmission Corporation is close to making a decision upon the parameters of the line. To meet Alaska's needs in terms of voltage, the line's capacity must be doubled. Right of way clearing is set to begin within months, yet no word has come on Alaska or our federal government on whether they will pledge participation.

The implications for Alaska in Southeast alone are billions of dollars of investment in Alaska. It will be very sad if this investment isn't made and the blame for it not happening will rightfully be place on Alaska's leaders, state and federal, whom are all aware of it.

The very same can be said regarding an All Alaska Gas Line. Our leaders should be promoting this to the maximum extent - to ignore these opportunities imperils Alaska's very economic existence.

Please write to Governor Parnell, Alaska Legislators, Senators Murkowkski and Begich and Congressman Young in support of these opportunities.