Energy rally planned for Thursday; lawmakers discuss TransCanada
Published Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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Stumble It!JUNEAU — Rep. Jay Ramras and the mayors of Fairbanks, North Pole and the Fairbanks North Star Borough are putting on a rally Thursday to bring attention to skyrocketing energy costs while lawmakers are in town reviewing TransCanada’s natural gas pipeline proposal.
“The purpose is to ensure that all of the Legislature understands the energy situation that we have in Fairbanks,” borough Mayor Jim Whitaker said Monday.
The rally is scheduled to take place Thursday afternoon from 5-5:30 p.m. at the Carlson Center. The three mayors and local religious leaders are tentatively scheduled to speak.
Organizers say the focus of the rally is the personal impact of high energy prices and the need for short-term solutions. But the focus is blurred somewhat by the timing of the rally and the role played by Ramras, a Fairbanks Republican.
The rally is scheduled to coincide with legislative hearings in Fairbanks on TransCanada’s gas pipeline proposal. Organizers say the goal is to take advantage of the opportunity to address lawmakers from around the state and not to interfere with the review of the TransCanada proposal. But the two issues are linked because a natural gas pipeline is considered one way to help reduce energy costs.
The rally also was conceived by Ramras, who openly opposes granting a state license to TransCanada and has advocated building a small, in-state gas pipeline to address high energy costs in Fairbanks. (Granting a license to TransCanada would limit the type of in-state project the state could support.)
On Monday, Ramras said his motivation was strictly to raise awareness about Fairbanks’ situation and not to lobby against TransCanada. He said he initially promoted the idea, contributed $1,000 to the effort and raised money for the rally, but has allowed others to organize and advertise the event.
“I’m trying hard not to politicize this but to put a human face on the energy plight of Fairbanks,” he said.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is helping advertise the rally, but publisher Marilyn Romano said Monday the paper was simply helping get the message out and was not specifically endorsing the event.
Legislative hearings
State lawmakers are planning to be in Fairbanks from Thursday to Saturday. Hearings are scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Carlson Center and are open to the public.
Thursday’s testimony will focus on in-state gas use and will include presentations from the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority and ENSTAR.
Friday will include testimony from TransCanada and Gov. Sarah Palin’s gas line team. Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin said Monday the administration’s testimony will focus on jobs, job training and infrastructure needs associated with pipeline construction.
Saturday will include any remaining testimony from the administration and TransCanada, followed by a public comment period.
For more news from the capital, visit www.newsminer.com and look for the Capital Focus blog.
Community Discussion
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What is chicken boy up to?
why mike....he does it all cause he cares about Fairbanks of course.....
(follow the money and the recent trips overseas???)
Jay can't stay in business with the cost of heating and electric anymore what else can he do? He must work against Trans Canada, so as to put his personal interests above the interests of Fairbanks & the State. I wounder if he owns stock in Yukon Pacific as well as Exxon?
Ramras has already destroyed any and all chances of getting reelected. The fact that he has anything to do with this event probably reduced the turnout considerably. That being said, I will still show up because we need to get the attention of Anchorage if any short term solution is going to come from an energy special session.
The majority of Alaskans do not have an energy crisis. Enstar natural gas rates actually dropped last winter and their electric rate is half of GVEA's at only .11 kWh. They equate the energy crisis to high gasoline prices and figure that we should just drive a little less if we can't afford it. Until you open up a $2000 heating oil bill and a $200 electric bill it is just someone else's problem. They are more than happy to continue paying for their subsidized natural gas and letting us freeze next winter.
Look,
it is an opportunity to show the desperate situation (desperate for me anyway), regardless of who organized it.
This may be the ONLY chance to have that "storm the Bastille" party we talked about months ago.
We should be demanding, not docile and passive. We must let the state know that we want some of OUR windfall resource money NOW, and a near-term solution along with the long-term.
Docile and passive gets us nowhere. We've been there. I think there ought to be something on the edge of riot. That's what gets gov's attention.
A bullet line makes sense, this should be fast tracked though it won't help the entire state it'll help Fbks. Direct payments to people w/2000 sq foot houses makes no sense. If such a program is adopted it should be run thru the local welfare office.
If it quacks like a duck....
Fairbanks gas says that a "majority of Alaskans do not have an energy crisis". I can't agree with that. Our energy costs in our villages are much greater than Fairbanks is experiencing. Our gasoline is going for $8 to $10 a gallon, heating fuel is $7 a gallon, and electricty in many villages is over 88 cents a kwh. Is Fairbanks anywhere near that? But, we all have to work together to get immediate relief. Fairbanks does need to push hard for relief as we do in our villages.
I don't think our legislators are being responsible for not calling their own emergency energy session and set aside AGIA to do that.
I am sure that all of you read about the Alaska Village Electric Coop's fuel costs going from $14 million last year to $26 million this year. They sent that to the state and the state has not convened a disaster team to examine the impact on those 53 villages that AVEC represents. As soon as the avalanche hit in Juneau, 17 state officials gathered in Juneau, led by General Campbell, to review Juneau's request for an energy emergency declaration. No state declaration emerged but the point is: That as far as I know, there was no state emergency team convened to review AVEC's fuel emergency. What is with that?
There seems to be a double standard of care to Alaskans depending on where they live. I don't want to think that is true but more and more evidence piles up that leads one to that regrettable conclusion.
Maybe it is time for villages across the state, where most of the natural renewable and non-renewable resources reside, begin to think of seceding from the State of Alaska and create a Northwestern State of Alaska. Those of us that live north of Anchorage and West of the Alaska Range are often given short shrift in Juneau. I think that the concentraton of political power in Anchorage is not in the best interests of those of us that live in the rest of the state. Maybe Fairbanks could be the new capitol of the new State of Northwestern Alaska.
andora: Right on!!!
corinne: You might get your "storm the Bastille" if enough people from rural can make it to Fairbanks for the 3 day Legislative conference. But they don't need a pep rally to look for heads to lop off; more like:... "lop them all off and let God sort them out!" That old adage of "tighten your belts" just don't cut it any more in rural Alaska. Been there, done that.
NOW IT TIME TO GET SOMETHING DONE.
Who is paying for this rally? Here at home I have turned the thermostat down to 62, I have insulated my water heater. I turn off all appliances unless I am using them at the moment. Yeah my coffeemaker flashes 12:00 when I turn it on, but I only turn it on once a day for 15 minutes and I can live with it flashing. Ditto my printer and microwave. I did not plant flowers this year because they cost money, are not native to the area, and need to be watered which also costs money. I do not have a lawn so I don't need to mow one. I expect the city and the borough to enact similar measures. If people want flowers planted along the medians then that is a great project for a volunteer group. Ditto cleaning the various faded and dirty flags strung out on the Cushman Bridge. Don't even get me going about the wasted energy on Christmas lights that are on half the year.
I made a photoalbum for everybody to see...
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http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk209...
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The first gasline over the Brooks Range wins..!!
The idea is just a very rough draft and I'm open to suggestions for how to make it work better, faster, cheaper, stronger.
....flash/rumble
Is Ramras is using this event as a political rally for publicity for his re election? Is this legal? Exactly right who is paying for this? Dermot Cole has a good column today.
What a crock! Ramrass is grandstanding in hopes of furthering his own agenda...
as are the mayors et al.
This thing is scheduled to be 30 minutes, which isn't even time enough to outline the issues, let alone bring up solutions...
The lawmakers are not even going to put their drinks down long enough to take notice of the peasants crying.
Complete waste of time and energy (take that as a pun if you like but how much gas will be wasted by people going to this idiotic event?).
And another thing:
"The three mayors and local religious leaders are tentatively scheduled to speak."
WHAT has !#%&*! religion got to do with this situation??? Somebody tell me how the religious people got involved? What does religion have to do with the energy crisis? Are we now going to be told God's gonna fix the problem if we all just repent?
thank goodness energy is still cheap in Fairbanks
endotheroad-
Pretty good. Ya know, you're right about the "other" legislators not coming. That isn't good.
Nevertheless, we still have an opportunity.
I wish it would be like a runaway grand jury: it doesn't have to be only a half hour if we don't let it.
I can only wistfully hope that it could be a protest and productive semi-riot to make the gas used to get there well spent.
It's our money the gov people have, and we need more of it now.
Corrinne, is ANGDA part of this rally? I thought they supported any and all pipelines? Is Harold going to be part of the rally?
I have no idea. And who is Harold?
What I know is that I can't sell my house, I can't afford to stay in my house, I can't afford to fix my house, and if my kids and I end up in the rescue mission, my house will be a burglary target, which has happened many times before and the cops' "investigations" are about as moronic as you can get.
The other thing I know is that the legislators do whatever they want with our money rather than return some of it to us.
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