A Bridge Too Far

Wall Street Journal on line ^ | November 21, 2005 | Editor

[OrioleFan]

The real heroine was JD Hayworth's wife. I heard him say this morning on Fox that it was her idea to force a debate abd vote on immediate withdrawal.

[thackney]

Take a gander at You'll note that the revenues the State recieved from oil & gas leases and royalities for the months of Aug & Sept, 2005 alone are more than enought to build this bridge.

Do you think there was any ear marked project in the bill that we could not selectively review, ignore all other expediture of that state and say they could pay for it themselves? What makes Alaska so different? Except for the fact that less than 1% of our land is privately owned and the Federal Goverment owns the majority of the state. Want us to pay all our own expenses? Let us have control of our own land.

[Ditto]

So over the life of this spending bill, you still believe Alaska is getting more than it receives?

It's not a question of "believing", it is a damn fact. Look at the links I gave you from the state's own web site. They'll rake in well over $2 billion in lease and royalty payments this year. They are getting the lion's share of the oil & gas revenues.

Are you from Alaska? If so, you should understand some of its history. When they got statehood back in 59, the Feds turned over mineral rights to the best producing lands in the state because it had no other source of income since the bulk of the population then was dirt poor. Go to the links I gave you. The state of Alaska gets many times more a year in money from oil and gas drilling than the Feds get out of that state. They have all the money they need to build bridges or whatever else they damn well please and the population is not dirt poor anymore. No one is screwing them, they are just accustomed to hanging on the Federal tit.

Funds Received from Oil and Gas Leases by Revenue Type

	SEPTEMBER 2005	AUGUST 2005	YEAR-TO-DATE
			FISCAL	CALENDAR
Rents & Bonus Bids	$177,890	$1,564,127	$2,170,909	$16,949,606
Net Profit Share Leases	$6,408,908	$7,334,150	$20,834,225	$57,615,379
Royalty	$200,747,754	$172,194,478	$539,307,357	$1,457,842,768
Adjustments/Settlements/Audit	$0	$0	$0	$0
Federally Shared Royalty	$1,881,760	$1,863,152	$5,506,968	$16,759,548
Interest	$(32,716)	$15,665	$329,864	$460,645
TOTAL FUNDS RECEIVED	$209,183,596	$182,971,572	$568,149,323	$1,549,627,946

 

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[thackney]

the Feds turned over mineral rights to the best producing lands in the state

Do you consider ANWR coastal plain and NPRA poor mineral resources? The Federal government has kept 222 million acres.

Yes Alaska produces income, just like all the other states. By this standard no one gets to justify transportation projects.

[Issaquahking]

Apologize for the clueless shot. That said however, you are familiar with the young state's problems in regard to the federal government controlling over 92% of the state, and the lack of development of infrastructure.

For some here in FR, they should envision what it is like to only have one road in, and out, of the state. To offer a clue to them, it would be Frisco without the B.A.R.T., or Seattle without the I-90 shot across the lake, or no Chesapeake Bay Bridge, or no tunnels in New york City. I'm older than the state I was born in! After all that though, I support the idea of going under the water via tunnel instead of a bridge.

I'd like to see the state start taxxing the fed for all the natural resource development that has been blocked by the feds. Every do gooder dumb-a$$ congressman feels it's his job to turn Alaska into a park, or worse... they seem to be trying to hand it over to the U.N.( great article by Helen get-your-gun Chenowith, wife of Wayne Hage property rights patriots)!!!

[Ditto]

Round and around and around. We started this with your contention that Alaska doesn't get it's fair share of Fed spending and it was pointed out to you that they get way more than their share. Alaska get 60% more in Fed spending than what they contribute. Then you claimed that the Feds were running away with all the oil lease money, but the fact is the vast majority of those leases are paid to the State of Alaska, (over $2 BILLION a year) not to the feds.

Now its about money from leases that haven't even been sold yet?

Why not just admit that no one is screwing Alaska and if that bridge is so damn important, the State of Alaska has more than enough revenue to build it themselves.

[thackney]

Alaska get 60% more in Fed spending than what they contribute

Again, you will not admit that none of your numbers count all the contributions that Alaska generates as Federal Revenue.

Then you claimed that the Feds were running away with all the oil lease money

I have never claimed any such thing.

If you have to tell lies and use deception to make your point, your point must not have been very good. Also you continue to ignore that Alaska does not get to control its own land. If you want us to contribute more, then let us develop Alaska instead of making it a giant park. Less than 1% of Alaska is permitted to be privately owned. The Federal Government controls the majority of it. During the process of making Alaska a State, it was recognized that Alaska would need to develop its resources. Then the government locks up most of our land so we cannot develop our resources.

[Ditto]

Citizens Against Government Waste

The top three increases in pork from fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2005 were: Homeland Security from $423 million to $1.72 billion (306 percent); Energy and Water from $714 million to $1.88 billion (163 percent); and Labor/HHS from $943 million to $1.7 billion (80 percent). Alaska again led the nation with $985 per capita ($646 million), or 30 times the national pork average of $33. The runners up were the District of Columbia with $461 per capita ($257 million) and Hawaii with $454 per capita ($574 million). Senators have once again proven that membership has its privileges: your money.

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Enjoy you pork but please stop insulting the rest of us by begging for even more.

[thackney]

Enjoy you pork but please stop insulting the rest of us by begging for even more.

Not in a single post have I asked for more. Please stop trying to put your lies in my mouth. My post are all above, why don't you show me where I requested more. I do not and have not ever said that Alaska does not get enough federal dollars.

What I have said is you do not count all the dollars Alaska generates for the Federal Treasury.

And what I want, is for Alaska to have greater control over its land and be allowed to generate even more funds for the Federal Treasury and for the state. How productive would your state be if private ownership of your land was limited to less than 1%?

[Ditto]

How productive would your state be if private ownership of your land was limited to less than 1%?

Let's assume that the entire population of Alaska is "squeezed" into that 1% or 59,000 sq. miles, (which is not true) and is absolutely walled off from the other 99% with no opportunity for income generation from that off-limit land --- (which also not at all true, BTW).

That makes the population density of Alaska 108 persons per sq. mile.

My state, which probably produces 50 times the federal revenue as Alaska has a total area including federal lands, of 46,000 sq. miles with a population of 12 million for a population density over twice that of Alaska, or 260 persons per square mile.

Would spreading the population of Alaska out over more sq. miles increase productivity?

Again, you guys are doing great up there. You are by far number 1 in Federal Pork per capita, and on top of that, the oil revenues that flow directly to the state government means you do not have to pay state income or sales taxes and still get an additional windfall every year from the permanent fund.

Sounds a little like a frozen Saudi Arabia.

What's the in-state tuition for the University of Alaska?

[thackney]

Population is not the issue in a state that depends on producing our resources.

No where have I suggested spreading out the population. Regardless of how you want to twist and misrepresent what I say, the majority of our land is prevented from development because it is held by the federal governement. Want us to send more dollars to the federal government? Allow us to produce ANWR, and all of the NPRA, and Bristol Bay, and many of our other area of resources.

[Ditto]

I'm in favor of drilling in ANWAR or anywhere else we can find oil, including my own back yard. But tell us exactly how much revenue would ANWAR generate for the Feds?

[thackney]

The proposal for ANWR coastal plain estimates $2.4 billion in lease sales alone. Some attack that as being to optimistic. In the Federal Lands only (there are also adjecent native and state lands) there is an estimate of 7.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil with last decade's technology. Royalties are typically 12.5% of the oil produced on the North Slope. The current senate version splits that 50/50 with the state.

After a few years getting the production up, estimates range from 800,000 Barrels per day to 1,500,000 Barrels per day of Oil. Using 1,000,000 BPD and $50 per barrel, that is $3,125,000 per day to Feds off the top, $1.1 Billion a year. Plus corporate income taxes, individual income taxes, taxes from the tankers, support infrastructure, drilling companies, food service companies, fabrication, construction and operation.

Then add the many other areas in the state. Very frustrating to me is how much of the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPRA) is still closed to oil/gas exploration. This is land specifically set aside for this purpose and only a small amount of it has ever gone to a lease sale.