Candidates for the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Kenai seat weighed in on what they think they could do to help prepare for impacts of the LNG project.
Blaine Gilman talked about the borough not getting ahead of itself….
Gilman: “First of all, it has to come, there is no guarantee that the LNG Project is going to be a reality. So the first thing that assembly members and the borough mayor needs to do is to actually assist in trying to make this project a reality by work by working with industry.”
Grayling Bassett offered some of those same reservations.
Bassett: “But I think whoever has the job, they’re going to have to go around, they’re going to have to talk to a lot of people, and just sort of see, how will this expansion affect grocers, affect people who want to develop their plots of land to make housing, which businesses may or may not benefit from that coming in.”
And Jake Thompson brought forward his main concern.
Thompson: “Now my concern, with that will probably come a boom in population so I want to make sure that the infrastructure is maintained and we take a look at education and the other functions of the borough, what I’m concerned about and what I don’t want to see happen is with this boom will probably cause an influx of money into the borough and I don’t want to see that as an opportunity to go on a spending spree.”
Those candidates will face off in the October 7 municipal election. Absentee voting for that election opens Monday, September 22.