Gas line needed: ward off recession now.

• Author: Cutler, Debbie
• Position: From the Editor

Last March I wrote about $100 a barrel oil, a feat that happened for the first time just after the beginning of the new year 2008. In my editorial I made a plea for the opening of ANWR, and encouraged producers to explore, develop and produce.

This year we are under a much different scenario. Oil is expected to be about $60 or less a barrel for most of the year, creating lower prices at the gas pump, but much havoc with the state's budget. Cutbacks have been announced in the oil industry as well as other segments of the economy. It has been announced that in 2009, even wealthy Alaska may experience a bit of the rest of the world's recession and that oil investment will whisper not roar.

What a Difference a Year Makes.

Now my plea is not only for more North Slope development of oil reserves (probably not going to happen), but also, and more so, the development of the infamous gas line, which will boost our economy in tough economic times.

We need the gas, we need the jobs, we need the money flowing back into state coffers. Yes, we may be facing a few job cuts, especially in the extraction, construction and transportation trades, but it doesn't have to be. We can continue to grow and prosper, either through TransCanada's (AGIA) promise and commitment to the gas line, or through Denali-The Alaska Pipeline plan of BP and ConocoPhillips.

It Makes Sense

Vern C. McCorkle, our beloved publisher, passed away in January. But he left behind him the spirit of the gas line in the hearts of us at ABM. We have been talking gas for Alaska and beyond in a serious manner for as long as I...