July 7, 2008

Eating Oogruk at the Naluktaq

Special Fourth of July Edition!!!

By Mike Doogan
The Endless Session road show touched down in Barrow this week. About half the legislature made the trip, for yet another hearing on whether to award a state gas pipeline license to TC Alaska, a subsidiary of TransCanada. The hearing itself yielded little in the way of new information. (Truth be told, if you held a gun to my head I couldn’t cite one new fact that emerged.) Mike Doogan

Some might question the usefulness of the visit, but I think there is some benefit in us seeing the town and the town seeing their legislature. If, like me, you spend almost all of your time in Alaska's cities, it's good to be reminded that there are people who don't, and that their lives are in many ways quite different from the ones you see every day.

The highlight of the visit was definitely the Nalukataq, or spring whaling festival, that took place on Monday. The main feature of that is the sharing of whale meat between the successful whaling crews and the villagers. But you could also eat goose soup and dried oogruk (bearded seal) meat if you had a mind. I ate at least some of whatever was offered. And while the oogruk is an acquired taste, I'd walk a mile for another bowl of goose soup.

On Tuesday, after the hearing, we took public testimony on the license and found, as we have everywhere else, a wide diversity of opinions.

The last of the road show hearings (we've already been to Fairbanks , Anchorage , Palmer and Soldotna, in addition to Barrow) is scheduled for July 8 in Ketchikan . Then we're back to Juneau for who knows how long.

The (REALLY BIG) special session call

While we were in Barrow, Gov. Sarah Palin issued her call for the next special session, which is to begin July 9. (Special sessions are, by law, limited to 30 days, and the clock ran out on the first one on Wednesday.) In addition to the AGIA license, she wants us to look at several energy issues.

I've been working on energy - and when I say "I've been working" I mean my aide, Ryan Jager, has been working - and have about come to the conclusion that the best move on energy relief is to tweak Power Cost Equalization (PCE) and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). And, of course, add some more money. That way, we (1) get help to those who need it; (2) don't add a whole new bureaucracy; (3) don't spend $1 billion or more.

Then we can use the time between now and the start of the next session trying to see if there are reasonable long-term energy solutions.

Of course, this is just one powerful legislator's view. I'm sure other powerful legislators will have ideas, too. As you probably know, the governor's proposal is simply to hand out money to every man, woman and child, whether they need energy assistance or not. And there's just something appealing about sending money to the voters in an election year.

The Glorious Fourth

I'm sending this e-news early because I know that you, like me, will be spending the weekend celebrating the Fourth of July. I don't know what your plans are, but I'm still trying to kick this cold, and I believe that if I am healthy enough the woman who lets me live with her might have a few ideas for my time. Especially since, as I say, on Monday I'm off to southeast Alaska for who knows how long.

Anyway, enjoy the Fourth. And remember that despite the problems and challenges we face, we're marking the 232nd year since the publication of the Declaration of Independence , and we're still here.