Comment: Alaskans beware.  

To the extent that the Walker administration socializes industry in Alaska, to that extent will free enterprise forces be replaced with political forces.  

With a Municipally regulated (i.e. political appointees, Mayor and Assembly become regulators) natural gas utility supported by a subsidized state agency controlled by the Governor corruption of public utility regulation in Fairbanks is inevitable.  

-Dave Harbour, former Chairman, Regulatory Commission of Alaska.

ADN by Alex DeMarban.  The state attorney general has rejected an effort by a Hilcorp subsidiary to acquire an LNG facility at Point MacKenzie, saying the deal could harm utility customers in Fairbanks.  

Attorney General Craig Richards, however, rejected the deal on Monday after Harvest said it could not accept proposed changes, such as a pricing mechanism presented by Richards as part of an effort to lower gas prices for Fairbanks customers.

Harvest Alaska, owned by Hilcorp, had agreed in November to purchase the Titan liquefied natural gas facility along Cook Inlet and to manufacture and sell the gas to Fairbanks Natural Gas for 10 years. Both Titan and FNG are owned by Pentex Alaska Natural Gas.

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Alaska Representative Mike Hawker, Fairbanks Utility, Hilcorp, gas utility, Interior Alaska, Craig Richards, Bll Walker, Alaska Socialism, Photo by Dave HarbourRep. Mike Hawker (NGP Photo), said he was very disappointed in the attorney general’s decision because it concentrates an LNG plant and delivery system in the hands of a state entity.

“We created AIDEA to help facilitate private sector solutions and this administration is turning AIDEA into a government monopoly in direct competition with the free marketplace,” Hawker said.

The Walker administration is stopping a properly executed free-market deal so it can “usurp” assets and subsidize Interior energy prices as the state faces a $3.5 billion budget deficit, Hawker said.

“This is bad because we are now putting AIDEA and the government into the direct business of managing the public utilities for the Interior of Alaska,” he said. ”We’re creating a long-term dependence on a new government subsidy at a time …."   Read more at ADN….

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