<p>Actually, we refine a bit of the pipeline oil right here in North Pole. The bulk of the Eielson jet fuel is refined at the Flint Hills refinery, North Pole. (source: the community impact statement of summer '05 when Eielson was on the chopping block). </p>
<p>AFA81, could you please clarify the statement on the AK gas? Also, Alaska is now on the brink of signing a contract with the oil companies to build a natural gas pipeline. As in the seventies, the price of the commodity is now high enough to support the price of extracting and moving it. That, along with advances in technology and changes to the Alaska Stranded Gases Act have allowed us to move forward with the negotiations.</p>
<p>One problem with Alaska’s economy is that we are very similar to a colonial economy. We have very few value added industries, and our major source of income (aside from tourism, which holds its own environmental impacts) is the exploitation of our natural resources. However, unlike most states, a great deal of Alaska’s resources fall under federal control. </p>
<p>The American taxpayer supports the Alaskan economy through the money the military pumps into the state, again, relegating the state to a colonial-type status. Is it wrong for Alaskans to aspire to the same economic development which the other states have attained in order to be less dependent on the federal government? As to the jobs program, that infers government intervention. The drilling and the gas pipeline are commercial enterprises, generating private sector jobs, not government works projects which deplete government funds. </p>
<p>While I support developing Alaskan resources, I do agree that alternative fuels should be aggressively sought. I was also evidently sufficiently brainwashed by my 1973 tour through the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant (just outside Portland, Oregon) since I do believe that nuclear power is safe and efficient. I have often wondered, as well, why a commercial nuclear powered merchant ship sits in the Charleston Harbor, out of service (toured that, too) when the Navy has successfully operated nuclear ships for decades. </p>
<p>As a proponent of competition and the open marketplace,(yes, even for teachers) I don’t see how creating jobs, bringing a commodity to market under favorable circumstances, and creating additional tax revenues is a negative. </p>
<p>Just my 2 cents. Oh, and I work on Eielson. Great place, IMO.</p>
<p>Dad 2B $20.00! OMG! We feed it to the husky! We feed the lab salmon.</p>