Years ago, my newspaper job included writing editorials. I was an employee, not the owner or publisher, so I had to submit the editorials to the publisher in advance for his approval.
One editorial accused a state legislator of lying. The publisher thought the word was too harsh, too mean, too explicit. He wanted it changed to “not telling the truth.” I agreed to the change, since it still got the point across that the elected official knowingly misled the public.
Sometimes, the right thing to do when writing opinion columns is to look for less inflammatory language. But sometimes, elected officials make statements that are so false, so misleading, so harmful to public discussion that they deserve stronger language.
Such is the case with Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s enthusiasm for a mega project to pipe North Slope natural gas across hundreds of miles of tundra, permafrost, fault lines, mountains, valleys, rivers and streams to Cook Inlet, where the gas could generate power and heat for Southcentral Alaska homes and businesses.
But gas for Alaskans is a side benefit. The main purpose, the longstanding dream, the financial underpinning of the entire immense project is to sell more than 90% of the gas to Asian nations, particularly Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Without overseas customers paying almost all of the mortgage and operating costs, no Alaskan could afford the gas.
Setting aside whether Asian buyers are willing to take a gamble on the project — which the state is promoting at an old construction estimate of $44 billion — the biggest falsehood in Dunleavy’s promotional speeches is that gas could start flowing through the pipe in 2028 or 2029.
The Alaska endeavor would be among the largest and most expensive liquefied natural gas export projects in the world — and probably the most complicated gas pipeline construction job in the world. Promising an operating pipeline before the end of the decade is as dishonest as pushing $3,900 Permanent Fund dividends, which the governor does too.
A lot would need to happen almost instantly for gas to start flowing by 2028 or 2029 — yet nothing in a multibillion-dollar project happens instantly. Construction would need to start next year.
But first, the owners — a partnership between the state and a private developer — would need to negotiate complex contracts to buy gas from North Slope oil and gas producers; negotiate complex, long-term, binding contracts to sell the gas at the end of the line; and negotiate complex contracts for tens of billions of dollars in investment and loans.
They would need to finish final engineering and design so that they could go out for bids to construct the initial 765 miles of the 42-inch-diameter pipeline; line up mills to make the high-strength steel plate and pipeline manufacturers to roll the plates; and arrange the transportation of more than 100,000 40-foot-long sections of pipe to multiple staging yards stretching from Prudhoe Bay to Cook Inlet.
They would need to build work camps along the route for thousands of crew members; order up the equipment to move the pipe around, to dig the trenches, to coat and weld and lower the pipe into those trenches; hire thousands of pipelayers, truck drivers, welders, cooks, camp staff and more.
All the while, they would be limited to seasonal work up north, running the equipment and digging only when the ground is frozen, so as not to damage the tundra or melt the permafrost.
If you believe that can get done in a few years, then I guess you believe in fairy tales. It’s a nicer word.
Larry Persily is a longtime Alaska journalist, with breaks for federal, state and municipal public policy work in Alaska and Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage and is publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel weekly newspaper.
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