capital focus

Last year, Rep. Jay Ramras was a Wal-Mart kind of gas line guy.
If you have a big open lot in a prime retail area, he argued, don’t put a McDonald’s in the middle of it — build a Wal-Mart and add the restaurant later. That is, don’t mess around with a 2 bcf all-Alaska line when the state could earn much more money from a 4 bcf line through Canada.
Now the Fairbanks Republican and restaurant owner is changing his tune.
“I’m coming around to the port authority,” he said Tuesday.
Instead of waiting 10, 15, maybe even 20 years for a big project to get moving, the state should look at what will get gas to Fairbanks the fastest.
“The cost of energy is taking the fun out of living in Fairbanks,” Ramras said. “People’s discretionary income is being eaten up by the cost of energy.”
Ramras said his first choice now would be a bullet line from the slope to Cook Inlet. If the economics of that don’t work, then he favors the Alaska Gasline Port Authority plan or even a small line that just brings gas from the slope to Fairbanks. Now.
Ramras raised a point that I’ve heard half a dozen times here from lots of folks — that high oil prices are great for state revenues, but not great for state residents. The point has been made in the context of providing a cash “rebate” to Alaskans, in support of renewable energy (all the benefit from high oil prices, no cost), and now, thanks to Ramras, in support of a smaller, faster pipeline.
I guess Ramras’ twist is a little different, but it’s still connected. It suggests that the “maximum benefit” to Alaskans has as much to do with the cost of energy in the state as with the dollars coming into the state treasury.
So build the McDonald’s now and worry about Wal-Mart later.