Robert Seitz: Quick meddling and pass the gasline tax bill, cleanly

By ROBERT SEITZ

July 16, 2026 – It is time to quit fooling around trying to fix a problem no one asked to be fixed and work on the one that was actually asked for.  Now is not the time to try to scratch a few more dollars out of Corporations and LLC’s.  Now is the time to pass the property tax relief bill that was actually asked for (the one the Governor submitted).  If the bill is passed, clean enough to be attractive to investors, then investors will show up.  The project will get underway and contracts will be written and work will begin and cash will flow.

Yes we will have to import workers.  There is no bill that the legislature can pass that will get enough workers here before the AkLNG project would begin.   They left that behind by not actively encouraging new oil and mineral extraction projects while letting the oil flow through TAPS taper off.  If the legislature follows the suggestion of Senators Giessel and Wielechowski to wait until January, they should all be ruled incompetent and released from their positions.

There won’t be solid contracts for the LNG until the construction actually gets started and completion looks much more certain.  There have been extended negotiations with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, so that is a good start.  Now it is time to start construction.  Glenfarne asked for property tax relief to make the project more attractive for investors, but if we can’t make it more attractive and we keep delaying, nobody will be interested.  Then all we have to look forward to is a worse economy and nobody to tax.

I don’t see any way that our potential customers for LNG will start building enough solar farms to displaced as much LNG as the interested countries would need for their energy needs.   So let’s pass the “clean” bill, with no other things added to it.   Do it now before the special session ends and all can become heroes.

Business coalition says revised HB 381 drifts further from gasline mission as Legislature nears adjournment

It is important to get the project going while there are still some Alaskans left who have some experience with big projects to help out with getting things organized for the project.  We still have enough Arctic Engineers around to help solve the frozen ground problems.  And there are some project managers around who have experience with large projects in Alaska, who know how to deal with personnel issues, logistical problems and transportation issues all common to Alaskan projects but on a big scale.

If the legislators don’t get a proper bill passed there will be no future in the north.

Robert Seitz is a professional electrical engineer and longtime Alaskan. 

Alaska Senate has a new move against the gasline: S corp tax with a carve out for some, not others