The idea of this column came to me mid-November with a pair of dueling columns in the ADN on the Alaska’s Fair Share ballot initiative. Former State Senator Joe Paskvan strongly and forcefully made the case that the initiative was indeed a Good Thing. Dave Harbour in response, argued not so much.
But the pair of articles got me thinking about a very physical, natural process, the relationship of a parasite to its host.
In the eternal argument on oil taxes, tax credits and revenues to the State of Alaska, it is most important to determine who is the host and who is the parasite.
Given that oil, this meaning the producers and what they send down TAPS, funds more than 90% of state revenues, why do we have the continuing argument about how much they are paying the State of Alaska? Call these guys the hosts, the body upon which the parasites of the State of Alaska feast.
The backers of the Alaska’s Fair Share ballot initiative deign to make a strong case that the host is not putting out enough blood. This argument is not unlike fleas on the body of any dog complaining that the dog is not producing enough blood.
Their problem is that this particular dog, the oil and natural gas producers, have a choice in the festivities, one to take their jobs and investment dollars elsewhere, to parts of the world, particularly in the Lower 48, that are more profitable for their investments, and a more stable political and taxation environment. Commenters to the Paskvan article seem not to be aware that we are actively chasing them out of the State.
First was Shell, after spending upwards of $8 billion in exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea under the watchful and unhelpful eye of Governor Bill Walker they decided fighting both the O’Bama administration obstruction and serial environmental complaints from North Slope villages (Kivalinia’s ludicrous air quality complaints for diesel emissions 75 miles offshore), they decided to take their investment dollars south.
Second was British Petroleum, announcing earlier this year they would be selling all their assets to Hilcorp.
And yet there is a substantial number of our neighbors who, like the Alaska’s Fair Share parasites, believe we aren’t chasing anyone out of state at all. Perhaps they forgot. Perhaps they ought to pay closer attention.
One of the things about well-evolved parasites is that they generally have gotten to the point in evolution where they’ve figured out how not to kill the host they feast upon. Not so the backers of this initiative, the lawyers, the politicians, the union leaders, the greens and all the rest who live in the world of envy, forever jealous of those who take care of their own business, frightened of those who might just be successful in life.
Our problem is that the parasites backing this ballot initiative are not evolved at all, being confused about the basic lifestyle choice that parasites ought not kill their host. Gonna be really difficult to keep the ol’ “sue the oilies into the Stone Age” business afloat when they all leave the state. But no matter, at least we’ve gotten even with them (at the cost of blowing up the entire state budget). And to these guys and gals, that’s the most important thing of all.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
