Crude Dreams/Crude Schemes

Jack Roderick, long-time Alaskan public servant, oil industry analyst and author of Crude Dreams which examines the often slimly roll that the gas and oil industry has had with Alaskan politicians (Veco/Corrupt Bastards Club) gave public testimony the other day about the House and Senate bills that takes billions of dollars out of the state's coffers and gives it to oil companies.  He's not afraid to tell it like it is.  The senate bill passed by the absolute narrowest margins, 11-9 and two of the votes for the break came from ConocoPhillips managers, now in the Alaskan Senate, Kevin Meyer and SOLDotna's own Peter Micciche.

Roderick just put out on OpEd in the Alaska Dispatch.  You can read it here.

It's been reported all around the state how it's an obvious conflict of interest that these two were not only allowed to vote, but they were both on committees that pushed the bill through the senate. Roderick imagines that the national press will soon have a good time (once again) ridiculing politics here in the 49th state.  Let's see, a governor that was an oil company lawyer and lobbyist, two senators on the payroll of a major oil company, and a dozen representatives with direct or family ties to the industry vote for a bill that will enrich every last one of them.  And of course, the Republican party had to engage in some gerrymandering to get their way.

Roderick is annoyed (as we all should be) about the conflict of interest, but what particularity annoys him is that the money has been given to the oil companies without any requirement that they produce more oil or hire more Alaskans.

As previously mentioned in this blog and elsewhere, is that Senator Gary Steven's rider that would sunset the new tax scheme after three years if the extra oil wasn't produced  was defeated by the same 9-11 vote.  If the point of the give-away is to spur production, shouldn't we have that clause as an incentive for the majors to actually spur production?