Alaska Gas Czar Swaps Pipeline Post For Academia

ADN.  Mark Myers (NGP Photo), a former head of the U.S. Geological Survey, is joining the University of Alaska Fairbanks as vice chancellor of research.  Myers currently leads the state's effort, under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, to encourage construction of a huge natural gas pipeline. He tells the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that he will keep that job until mid-January to ensure a smooth transition.  The school announced Friday that Myers will replace Buck Sharpton, who was chosen last month to serve as acting chairman of the federal Arctic Research Commission. At the university he will oversee annual research budgets totaling $123 million.  He said his decision to take the $214,000-a-year research post was a personal one and not any reflection on the AGIA.  "I'm a scientist at heart. It'll be like a kid at a candy store," said Myers, who earned his doctorate in geology at UAF in 1994. "And I'm looking forward to the challenges."