The focus of Tuesday’s joint chamber luncheon was oil and gas in Alaska. A senior advisor for Governor Bill Walker says we must align to improve the state’s fiscal situation.
The governor’s Chief Oil and Gas Advisor John Hendrix says like it or not, the state of Alaska is in the business of oil and Alaskans need to start working together on a solution.
Hendrix: “I think it’s a shame that the fiscal plan hasn’t already been fixed, as an Alaskan. I think Alaskans need to ask ourselves ‘Why wasn’t that fixed? Was is we were not all engaged? We trusted them? Were we all selfish on our own little wants so people didn’t back down?’ But when we’re spending a million dollars every hundred days from our savings account, that came from oil, that’s wasteful.”
He says proper education of how Alaska’s oil has played a huge part in the state’s history is necessary to move forward in positive ways for the industry.
One way he’s working to help the oil and gas industry is by more efficiently aligning the permitting process with the federal government. Hendrix says it would be better to have one lead permitting agency.
Hendrix: “Well I’ve been talking to all the federal agencies in Alaska, even in D.C., about look, we need to do something. They like the idea, if we can get them together to agree on it, they all see the benefits of it we just need to make it happen. It’s just a great opportunity, one-stop shopping for a federal permit.”
Hendrix says he believes that by eliminating the redundancies currently required to obtain a federal permit, oil companies can focus more on abiding by the rules and producing responsibly.