A Citizen’s Guide

Just two days after the end of the public comment period on the proposed contract last Monday, the Department of Revenue had the 2,000-plus public comments online and out for all to see. And that means all the voicemail messages, faxes, letters, e-mails, and spoken testimony.

Stellar efficiency over at Revenue? Well, not exactly. A private company did the technical work.

“They specialize in this sort of thing,” said Bill Corbus, the revenue commissioner.

But it’s Corbus who is awarded by law the duty of reviewing, compiling, and responding to the comments.

He said the comments are being put into categories now. He’ll do a summary of them that will go out to the public, and the department will respond to the issues raised. It wouldn’t be physically possible to respond to every comment with a personal letter, he said. So don’t expect one.

To check out the comments on the Web, go to the state’s gas pipeline page at www.gov.state.ak.us/gasline and click on “Public Comments.”