It’s strange that there is an audience for this blog that reaches all over the world, yet there are but a few people, locally, who read it (that I know of). I’ve been thinking about the likeliness that anything substantive will be accomplished by a lot of global-thinking bloggers who don’t make any local noise, because changes that matter happen on the ground.

For one thing, the Letters to the Editor of our local paper can give anything I write a circulation of several thousand readers on any given day - far more than Borderland. Becoming a School Board meeting regular is another idea I’ve been kicking around. I’ve written letters to the editor before, and since writing comes more naturally to me than public speaking, I dove into the letters-to-the-editor pool a few weeks ago.

The subject wasn’t Education, or testing, which are topics I’ve bitten on in the past. No, this time I got rolling on a problem that has been years in the making in our oil-rich state. Our 700 mile-long state of the art oil pipeline got a bit rusty and had to be shut down all of a sudden due to some nasty leaks. This, of course, means that our state will lose tax revenue due to NO OIL. The governor was busy with hiring freezes, and opening investigations. There was great potential for wringing of hands, gnashing of teeth, and election-year blame.

I remember that our state legislature did away with state income taxes in 1980, when the oil started bringing all those pennies from hell. This is a contentious issue here, as it is most places - the funding of government, the funding of schools - but it has it’s own quirky logic in a place where NOBODY has to pay. When oil prices are high, life is good. We all get a check every year for 1000 bucks. If you speak in favor of taxes, or in favor of dedicating oil money to education, the anti-taxers say, “You’re free to donate your check any day.” It goes back and forth with the other side, mainly the blood-sucking leaches with government jobs, like me, saying things like, “There’s no free lunch.” You get the picture.

So I was thinking about how maybe (I don’t really know) this pipeline glitch wouldn’t have been a fiscal emergency if we had some other source of state revenue. And then the local paper ran an editorial called Prudhoe Bay Questions. I took it as an open invitation to write my letter to the editor.

Questions

Aug. 10, 2006

To the editor:

Before the finger pointing and belt tightening gets serious, we might ask some questions in addition to those that appear in the Aug. 10 News-Miner editorial, “Prudhoe Bay questions.”

The News-Miner asked, “Did state and federal regulations fail to evolve with Prudhoe Bay’s aging to take into account the problems that come with growing old?” This is a good question, and prompts me to wonder.

Does the legislature, the administration, or the electorate bear any responsibility for government budget shortfalls by refusing any statewide taxes on either income or sales?

How much of our state budget would depend on oil revenues if we taxed ourselves like other states?

Can we declare this a fiscal emergency when we’ve nurtured a dependence on a single source of income for decades?

Can we regulate, litigate, and develop our way out of similar problems in the future?

Is the BP shutdown of Prudhoe Bay merely a technological breakdown, or is it also a social matter?

Doug Noon

I didn’t hear anything about it. No rebuttals or refutations. No echo - until today.

I got a letter from my Representative to the State House today. I was absolutely floored. It wasn’t a form letter.

Dear Doug,
Thank you for your recent letter to the editor. Your questions are all excellent; I hope people are thinking about them as they vote in November. Moreover, I’d like to see state legislators seriously address the overall social and economic impacts of Alaska’s revenue policies. We’ve now raised an entire generation of Alaskans that expects not only state services for nothing, but free money every October. That is unrealistic, unsustainable, and unhealthy. Keep asking those tough questions.

Best Regards,
David

It was hand signed. And to think I almost tossed it unopened because it’s campaign season! David, you’ll be hearing from me directly. It’s nice to be heard by someone with an opinion that matters to me (even though the Democrats do get shamelessly bullied in Juneau).

I’m feeling encouraged to make more local noise.