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Alaska’s natural gas pipeline would largely follow the route of the existing trans-Alaska oil pipeline, pictured here, from the North Slope. Near Fairbanks, the gas line would split off toward Anchorage, while the oil pipeline continues to the Prince William Sound community of Valdez. (Photo by David Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey)
Businesses routinely offer discounts and coupons as enticements to get people to spend money, or to buy something they wouldn’t normally purchase if they had to pay full price.
It’s the same for the proposed Alaska North Slope natural gas pipeline project.
The dream has been around for almost 60 years, but no one has been willing to pay full price. So now, the Legislature and the governor are welded together in a political debate over just how much of a discount coupon the state should offer to get the project built.
The governor and the developer, a private company named Glenfarne, want a massive discount on property taxes. Without the tax relief, they say, the project will never get built and the state treasury and the public will be the losers.
The political fight isn’t so much whether tax relief is a valid incentive for the state to offer, but how much of a discount the state should offer and when it should expire.
There’s no question that even with the property tax relief the project would produce tax and royalty wealth for the state treasury, jobs for Alaskans and work for contractors. That’s similar to a grocery store that offers a big discount on milk or butter, knowing it will profit from everything else the shopper buys. It may take a discount on the heavy property tax burden to get the pipeline developer to make the purchase decision.
But no business issues coupons without an expiration date. The cost of goods change, economics and business plans change. Stores need the flexibility to protect their own interests.
The state needs to think the same as a supermarket and put an expiration date on its tax coupon so that lawmakers can change the terms up or down if the discount does not result in a sale.
The House version of the tax bill contains no expiration date. The Senate version says the coupon goes away if the developer does not start moving gas through the pipeline by Dec. 31, 2032. The governor’s proposal gives Glenfarne more than a decade to put the pipeline into operation, Jan. 1, 2037.
It’s similar to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The House no-deadline is too weak; the governor’s 2037 deadline is far too rich; the Senate option is just the right temperature.
Besides, based on past public statements by Glenfarne and the governor, getting the first gas flowing through the pipeline by 2032 should be easy.
The company in January issued a public statement that it was targeting “mechanical completion” of the line by the end of 2028 and first gas flows in 2029. The governor has talked about gas moving in 2028 or 2029. Yet now both the governor and Glenfarne say a 2032 expiration date on the tax coupon is unreasonable and would kill the project.
They never said they might need until 2032 when they were overselling and overpromoting the project to the public over the past year.
Besides, the venture already faces expiration dates. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorization to build and operate the project expires in 2030; Department of Energy approval to export U.S. gas overseas expires in 2032. Both expiration dates allow regulators to take a new look at the project, its environmental impacts and the market before granting an extension.
The state deserves the same. If the company does not commit to build and put the line into operation by the just-right deadline in the Senate version, the state should have the right to cancel the coupon and reconsider how much of a discount is in Alaska’s best interests.
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Kenny Chesney is opening up about his decision to keep politics out of his performances.
Over the past three decades, the superstar has built his career around bringing people together, saying his concerts are meant to serve as an escape from the noise of everyday life. Because of that, he says he’s chosen not to use his platform to tell fans how to think or vote.
During a recent conversation with Bill Maher on the Club Random podcast, Chesney explained that he has never felt it was his place to influence fans politically from the stage, noting that people are already surrounded by those conversations everywhere else.
“I’ve never saw it to be my place to use my stage or platform, no matter where I’m playing, to tell people how to think or how to vote,” he stated. “They hear that…They get that everywhere else. Everywhere, on every device, every network. They’re there as an escape from all that stuff.”
Chesney’s comments came after the conversation turned to Bruce Springsteen, who, like Maher, hails from New Jersey. Maher admitted he is a Springsteen fan but said he has started to view the outspoken singer through a more political lens.
“Now that starts to get to be a … It’s so funny. Everything has to be political now,” Maher said.
Chesney agreed and said, “I just refuse to do it. I was very thankful when I came on your show in November that you knew I didn’t want to talk about that.”
Of celebrities who are outspoken on their political views and hope to influence fans by talking politics, Chesney said stated, “There’s a certain ego, I think, that lives in there and a certain box inside your head and your soul that you have to check, for some reason, to think that you can make a difference.”
During his appearance, Chesney also discussed nearly 30 years without canceling a show, why he stopped drinking before performances, and his upcoming Sphere residency.
Click above to watch.
Chesney returned to the stage at the Sphere in Vegas over the weekend, opening his summer run with an epic show that included hits like “Young,” “Beer In Mexico,” and “Keg in the Closet,” and a surprise three-song performance with fellow superstar Eric Church.
The post Kenny Chesney Says He Refuses To Bring Politics Onto His Stage appeared first on Country Now.
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