A Fairbanks state senator is questioning the subsidies that Alaska awards big oil companies in tax breaks that will total nearly $2 billion this fiscal year.
Alaska’s new state budget prioritizes public safety with funding for new hires who are expected to increase the ranks of Alaska state and wildlife troopers.
And a pair of older residence halls at the University of Alaska Fairbanks that are in need of overhaul will get funding in the new fiscal 2023 budget passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
There’s more political news this week in “Five Things to Know.”
Sen. Scott Kawasaki, a Fairbanks Democrat, is calling into question subsidies that the state of Alaska provides for global oil companies that do business in Alaska.
In an email to constituents, Kawasaki said that he was “a little disappointed in what was not carved out in the budget veto process by the governor.”
Kawasaki said he had hoped Gov. Mike Dunleavy would have considered the subsidies — that total nearly $2 billion — that big oil companies “continue to enjoy while individual Alaskans and families struggle” amid higher prices for gasoline and heating fuel.
Kawasaki noted that the the amounts for fiscal 2023 are as follows:
• $1.3 billion in oil production tax credits;
• $683 million in carried-forward oil tax credits;
• $150 million to a Texas oil company that Kawasaki said was allowed through a corporate income tax loophole.
The reference by Kawasaki to the $150 million loophole concerned BP’s sale of assets to the private company Hilcorp.
Publicly traded oil companies like BP are responsible to pay a corporate income tax. All of the companies that do business on the North Slope do pay their share of corporate income taxes.
But when BP sold its assets to Hilcorp — one of the largest privately owned oil corporations — the company used the tax loophole that allows it to forgo paying any corporate income taxes, Kawasaki told the News-Miner Friday.
“It was definitely an oversight on the part of government leaders of the past and revisions to the law — which have been discussed for decades — have gone without action, because no one thought it was a problem until it was a problem,” Kawasaki said.
Alaska state budget focus: public safety
The 2023 operating and capital budgets that Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed into law expand programs and services in public safety, a focus of the administration.
The 2023 fiscal year budget, which took effect Friday, July 1, authorizes hiring an additional 10 Alaska state and wildlife troopers and 10 village public safety officers.
As a recruitment and retention incentive, the budget provides for housing assistance for officers in rural and remote communities.
There also are additional dollars to hire more criminal prosecutors and support staff.
The budget provides for the creation of a pilot program for a crisis stabilization center to assist Alaskans experiencing a mental health crisis.
Fairbanks pipeline worker honored in D.C.
The practice of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan to honor an Alaskan of the week on the floor of the U.S. Senate is a grassroots attraction that draws a weekly audience of Washington insiders who enjoy the recognition of ordinary people who’ve accomplished extraordinary things in their lives.
Sullivan just recognized Jeff Streit of Fairbanks, the longest-serving employee at Alyeska Pipeline Corp., where he has worked for 48 years.
Alyeska operates and maintains the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
Streit started his career at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1974, when he was among the tens of thousands of employees who helped to build the system.
He then continued on at Alyeska in various roles that include pump station supervisor and pipeline technician trainer, among other jobs at the company.
New leaders at DNR and Permanent Fund
The departure of Corri Feige as the Natural Resources commissioner leaves a couple of key vacancies that Gov. Mike Dunleavy has quickly filled.
Akis Gialopsos — formerly the deputy chief of staff for Dunleavy — assumed the DNR commissioner’s post on Friday, July 1, which marked the first day of the new fiscal year.
Gialopsos, a lifelong Alaskan, is seen as a strong supporter of the gas and oil industry, according to Petroleum News.
Gialopsos also served as chief of staff to the Alaska Senate president and as an aide to the Senate Resources Committee.
Feige’s resignation as Natural Resources chief also left a vacancy on the board of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.
Jason Brune, the commissioner of Environmental Conservation, was tapped by Dunleavy to serve as a trustee on the six-member board. He formally started as a trustee on Friday.
Brune has served in the Dunleavy administration since 2018. He was previously senior director for land and resources at Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native corporation.
He is the former executive director of the Resource Development Council and past president of the Alaska Miners Association.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and did graduate work in environmental science at Alaska Pacific University.
UAF residence hall improvements
The University of Alaska will see its first operating budget increase in fiscal 2023 after several years of cutbacks.
Among the new spending in capital projects are updates to Moore and Bartlett residence halls on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, which will get underway in May 2023.
The two residence halls were built in the 1960s and 1970s and have not had major renovations. Together they house nearly 650 students each academic year.
Building updates will address aging infrastructure, including the plumbing, heating, ventilation and wiring systems.
“In addition to replacing the plumbing in each building, we’re planning upgrades to the rooms and common areas — things like new carpet, paint and light fixtures — and are reconfiguring the bathrooms,” said Marmian Grimes, public information officer.
Students in residence halls are assigned housing units each academic year.
“We’re still working out the details of the project schedule, but we’re doing so with the goal of making sure we have space for the students who will be living on campus,” Grimes said. “We currently have several residence halls that are not occupied, including one that’s in the midst of renovations, which could be available to house students during the renovations at Moore and Bartlett.”
The modernization will resolve major building code violations and improve energy efficiencies, thus lowering costs to run the facilities.
Contact Linda F. Hersey at 907-459-7575 or at lhersey@newsminer.com.
