Oil & gas: the face of Alaska.

• Author: Cutler, Debbie
• Position: Alaska Business Monthly's 2009 Oil & Gas Directory

How has the oil and gas industry impacted Alaska? This question was thrown out to a dozen leaders in early April, in industries all across Alaska, to see how oil and gas has impacted them and the state as a whole. Only two responded by deadline, but those statements tell a story we know. Or rather should know.

"Without the discovery and development of Prudhoe Bay, life for all Alaskans would be very different," said Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association. "It is hard to identify any other catalyst that could have been used to leverage what became the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The Native corporations are now an integral part of the mining industry and without ANCSA who knows what economic opportunities would exist today."

A similar viewpoint on the importance of oil and gas comes from Betsy Lawer, vice chair, First National Bank Alaska: "The petroleum sector of Alaska's economy generates one-third of the jobs for Alaskans, according to economist Scott Goldsmith with the University of Alaska. In fact, his recent analysis of the state's economic drivers shows that without the support and stability petroleum provides, Alaska's economy might be only half the size it is today."

A summer 2008 study completed by Information Insights, a Fairbanks research group, and the McDowell Group of Juneau, commissioned by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association and the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, showed that $2.1 billion annually is spent by the industry in the state. That is more than the...