With more than 35,000 ballots still uncounted from last week’s General Election, we still don’t know who Alaska’s next Governor will be. Independent candidate Bill Walker has often said he’d like to cut the state operating budget by eliminating excessive funding for studies. Kenai Peninsula Senator Peter Micciche now has a seat on the Finance Committee; we asked how he feels about Walker’s comments…
Sen. Micciche(R-K.Pen): “Well without specifically talking to Mr. Walker on which studies he’s referring to I would have to understand the specifics. If he’s talking about the fact that we study the heck out of everything we do for years before we make a decision I agree with him. If Mr. Walker’s talking about studies associated with the LNG Project I believe he’s talking about the resource reports that are necessary under NEPA for an EIS which is federally required and there’s simply nothing we can do to avoid that work. So, I would have to know more about specifically to what he’s referring.”
Micciche was also named chair of the Senate Transportation Committee…
Sen. Micciche(R-K.Pen): “As we look at some of the areas on being more efficient with how we run state government, I think the Department of Transportation is a very important place to look, it has a very significant budget and I’m not building who are going to be the committee members on that transportation committee and look forward to getting down to work as soon as possible.”