Our Washington state neighbors.

• Author: McCorkle, Vern C.
• Position: From the Publisher - Brief Article - Excerpt

Vern C. McCorkle

The Alaska Committee of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce has existed for 125 years. We are told that it is the largest and the oldest committee of the Seattle chamber, and the relationship between the Alaska Committee and Alaska businesses has been long and usually cordial.

Recently, an Alaskan son appeared before the committee and laid out some facts for Washington business leaders to contemplate. Dave Harbour's remarks are so enlightened and to the point that we have excerpted the following comments from his speech. Harbour is president of The Harbour Company, Anchorage, and publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines: (http://www.arcticgaspipeline.com)

Arctic Energy: Benefits for Alaska, Washington, America

"Almost daily, New York commentators from the Wall Street Journal to MSNBC, CNBC and Fox Television discuss such stellar Evergreen State enterprises as Microsoft, Boeing, and Starbucks...and Washington state listens. Then they comment on ANWR, the Alaska gas pipeline, or news from BP, Exxon and Phillips as if their operations and plans mean little to Washington state. In fact, the economy down here (Seattle) has more to do with Alaska than is commonly thought.

"With family in Washington, I'm entitled to observe that many here think of Alaska as a place to vacation, hunt and fish or send kids for summer jobs with the fishing or tourism industries. Yes, my Washington friends discuss the big oil and gas issues, but not usually as if Washington's economy depended on them. But depend it does, for Adam Smith's invisible hand of commerce has established an economic chain which links us all.

"Washington in general and Seattle in particular have historically profited from Alaska's resources, notably its gold a hundred years ago and its commercial fishing throughout the past hundred years. But the ordinary citizen here is not too aware that because Alaska is over 80 percent oil dependent today, its wholesale purchasing from Washington state, its airline business, its ocean freight, barge, airline, and a thousand other enterprises employ Washingtonians-thanks to oil. Even Seattle's growing tourism links with Alaska depend on Alaska services being provided visitors and tour companies, courtesy of oil industry taxes and royalties. The 50 percent decline in Prudhoe Bay production, therefore, should be as much a concern to Washingtonians as it is to me and my fellow Alaskans. Indeed, recent legislation to establish a 'head tax' on cruise...