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i was asked to make some comments about the possible harpswell natural gas
terminus and pipeline, as i am a lifelong alaskan and thus have benefited
greatly from the largess of our state's oil wealth, and lived for 5 years
in valdez which
has seen both the benefits and the destruction that oil can bring -- if
one agrees to have oil companies in your neighborhood you need to
seriously look at these pluses and minuses, and how to get the most
benefit with the least cons
i
would like to start by acknowledging my bias - i feel that all
corporations would leave us in a lurch
given a chance - what i mean by that is that they would leave us with a
"love canal" and deny it to their dying days if at all possible -- if it
were not for oversight -- i feel that that oversight is the responsibility
of the government (because i do not believe/trust corporations to do it
themselves) - we pay taxes (this includes corporations) to have this
unbiased review of the process - i feel that currently the government is
paying only lip service to the concerns of communities with regard to
regulation of corporations/industries -- i would also like to state, in
imperfect legalese, that these are my opinions and my opinions alone,
based on feeling and gestalt (i give this disclaimer because i would not
put it past the oil companies to try and
choke
out any open discourse about them)
the
community of valdez realized early on that the oil companies were only
going to stay in valdez temporarily (20-40 years) they therefore decided
to set up their own "permanent fund" into which they put a large chunk of
their yearly revenues (from property taxes)- this fund is managed by a
team of professionals and is currently worth over 80 million dollars - all
the earnings of this fund are run back into it at the current time - the
town of valdez has a population of around 4200 and the majority of them
work in conjunction with the oil industry - it is felt that when the oil
runs out a lot of these people will leave and the town budget will shrink
with the shrinking population -- i feel that this (the rainy day fund) is
a very good idea and you should seriously think about doing something like
it - (i would think that the folks at the city of valdez would be willing
to discuss this with you ad nauseum) ------ where i think this needs work
lies in the nature of us all - when valdez started this they had something
around a 4mil tax - currently they are near, or at, a 20mil tax - as the
property value of the oil infrastructure has dropped off the city has
tried to keep a positive cash flow and to do so they have had to increase
their tax rate (the 20mil tax i believe is based on that being the max the
state will allow the city to tax the oil companies) -- there are many
people who believe, and i am one of them, that the city of valdez was
lacking in foresight when they did not start off with a higher mil rate
initially as it would have filled the permanent fund quickly, and then
they could have backed off the mil rate later if so desired - of course
who wants to tax themselves more than necessary and the money seemed to be
pouring in -- the other little dilemma was that the state went into closed
door negotiations with the oil companies and determined the
amortization/depreciation of the infrastructure without the input of the
community of valdez ------ so the mil rate went up to compensate ---
also valdez has instituted a "tanker tax" - this means any big vessel
going through their waters pays a hefty fee - the oil companies cried
foul, and i believe it was in court for i while but i think most of them
are paying it now - and i think it brings in more than 7 million/year -
part of the cities reason for instituting this user fee (as our governor
would call it) was because the city did not feel that the oil companies
were willing to cough off their fair share of the costs of running the
city-- this is another good idea in my mind and i would set it up right
away (not 20 years later like valdez did)
i
am sure that the oil companies will say that they already pay their fare
share, and more - however the fact of the matter is that the majority of
the people in valdez work for them, or one of their spin offs and so they
should provide for that extra burden that they place upon the city - as
well as providing for their employees and their families
the
downside of the oil industry can be devastating - everyone knows about the
exxon valdez oil spill -- 15 years ago this spring - exxon says they have
done their part to clean it up and it wasn't really their fault (of course
government oversight had fallen off at that time - just like now) - the
jury said otherwise and exxon continues to appeal the court decision and
the damages (which
they call excessive) - i am sure they plan to litigate this to the ends of
the world -- i am sure they would disagree, but most scientific inquiry in
prince william sound continues to show the effects of oil damage (you can
still find oil on some beaches
if you dig down, and fishermen say that stocks have not returned to
pre-spill numbers
other things to think about with regards to the oil spill include the
impact on the community - the was no real organized response initially -
even though a lot of money was thrown at the problem - the town was
flooded with people working the oil spill, or looking for work - the spill
response effort put their equipment wherever they wanted (it didn't matter
if it was a vacant lot or the newly seeded park) - they went into the
local drugstore and bought out all the first aid supplies (in spite of the
objections of the manager who pointed out that a lot of it wasn't
appropriate for the situation and it also left the community without any
first aid supplies) --- the local hospital was overwhelmed - people came
in claiming to work for the spill response/or claiming to work related
injury - the 2 physicians were basically running a 24 hour clinic --- in
the end the physicians got very burnt out and the hospital, and physicians
lost over 50,000 dollars ------ these are the things that kind of get in
your craw, but i think they can be dealt with --- the community needs a
disaster plan that the oil industry agrees to - one that includes
appropriate use of resources and who pays for what -- the spill response
should have brought in their own clinic, or should had aided the community
hospital by bringing in a couple more physicians, nurse practitioners, or
physician assistants - as well as a couple more people to assist the
hospital with billing/admitting , not to mention a few more nurses --
again i think it would behoove you to speak to the folks in valdez about
how to deal with a spill -- currently i think their spill response
team out mans the number of people working at the oil terminal - but i am
not sure how it looks at this time
other negative impacts to the community include the whims of management -
valdez's population fluctuates according to where the ceo thinks people
should be -- when we lived there they had just decided to move a lot of
people
back out
of
anchorage
and to valdez and
fairbanks
- housing got really tight and property values soared -- right before we
left, and even more so after leaving, the current ceo reorganized again
and moved a lot of people
back to
anchorage
- leaving valdez with depressed property values and empty houses (most
long timers in valdez see this a
chronic
recurrent problem and just sit it out) --- of course this leads to
problems in knowing how many teachers
to hire from year to year, etc... not to mention the problems it causes
families who have to uproot, grow accustomed to, then uproot again (i used
back out and back to in bold to emphasize that this is not a one time
deal) --- along with these upheavals come the many people who really HATE
living in valdez - no malls, bowling alleys, movie theatres, etc... they
peule and they vote and get some of their agendas pushed before they leave
in 3 years
ah
i am running out of steam - but my basic message is - if you decide to
allow them into your home do not let them take it over -- tax them to the
hilt, tax their tankers, have contingency planning for disasters and make
them toe the line with regards to it -- talk to the city of valdez, the
city of kenai and nikiski, and the citizen advisory council (prince
william sound rcac for which the oil companies pay) - and do not trust
them farther than you can throw one of their tankers ----- joe roth
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