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Senator Myers urges focus on economics, warns committee moves could unsettle gas‑line investors
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Summary
Senator Myers told a Senate minority press conference that Alaska should prioritize the gas‑line project’s long‑term economic benefits over short‑term state revenue, criticized committee language changes to a House resolution and warned competing bills (SB 275 and SB 280) risk making the project more political than financeable.
Senator Myers said at a Senate minority press conference that lawmakers should prioritize the gas‑line project’s long‑term economic benefits rather than focusing narrowly on short‑term state revenue. "Do we really want the gas line?" Myers asked, arguing the project could lower household energy costs and attract industry investment if structured properly.
Myers cited recent retail energy prices in Fairbanks — about $25 for natural gas and roughly $0.33 per kilowatt‑hour — and said lower energy costs could revive local industry, including the Agrium plant on the Kenai and mining projects that have lost bids to lower‑cost jurisdictions. "You get the short‑term construction jobs for a few years... but in the longer term we’re talking about lower personal energy costs," Myers said.
Myers criticized changes to HDR 18, a House resolution that he said was altered in committee from a firm statement of support to a more tepid formulation, raising concerns about the message sent to potential investors. He also contrasted two pending measures: SB 275, sponsored by the committee and described by Myers as politically focused, and SB 280, advanced by the governor to address a property‑tax issue dating to the 1990s. "We have to be focusing on the economics or on the politics, not on the politics," he said.
Myers also raised technical and legal risks: consultant Gaffney Klein told lawmakers the project's property‑tax structure likely needs revision because of litigation exposure that could undermine financing. He warned that a provision in one bill that would bar deducting production costs from oil taxes could make mixed oil‑and‑gas wells uneconomic, and said most LNG projects worldwide rely on tax breaks or payment‑in‑lieu‑of‑tax arrangements to be viable.
The senator said the Legislature will continue hearings on gas‑line bills and related resolutions in coming weeks. He urged colleagues to weigh long‑term economic transformation against short‑term revenue targets when refining bill language and tax treatments.
