While everyone wants relief from high energy costs, handing out big state checks to everybody is only a short-term way to dull the pain. The more responsible approach is to invest in energy-saving strategies that pay off for years to come.

In Anchorage, Mayor Mark Begich last week produced two thoughtful proposals to propel Alaska quickly into a more fuel-efficient future: a dramatic expansion of public transportation, and a large state fund to encourage energy-efficiency investments at electrical utilities.

The Legislature, which meets this month on the gas pipeline and to help Alaskans cope with exorbitant fuel costs, should give the city's ideas serious consideration.

Public transit was missing from the governor's equation for quick help to Alaskans. Yet it can be both a short-term fix, and long-term cost-saver.

As Begich pointed out, three-fourths of Alaskans live in Anchorage, Ketchikan, Fairbanks, Mat-Su and Juneau, all places where strong public transit systems could lure drivers out of their cars and trucks.

Bus systems, including Anchorage's, have been kept hungry because they depend on financially squeezed local governments for operating money. They are not fulfilling their potential.

Begich proposes the state put $200 million into a state public transportation authority for both capital and operating costs of new bus and commuter rail service. Annual state appropriations of $10 million would continue to support the systems.

More than 40 states do contribute to operating costs of local transit systems, but Alaska has not done that. This year, the state offers a little, but not enough to make a difference.

With around $50 million of the $200 million, says Begich, Anchorage and the Valley could start up commuter rail to serve the 11,000 people estimated to live in the Mat-Su and work in Anchorage. And Anchorage could beef up its public bus system to get the commuters where they need to go once they hit the city.

Anchorage's People Mover already knows it has to increase the frequency of buses to attract many more riders. If buses came every 15 minutes instead of 30 to 60 minutes apart during rush hour, the service would be more convenient and more popular.

Money is the only obstacle.

And Begich and Mat-Su Borough Mayor Curt Menard have agreed in concept to creating a Southcentral transit authority, Begich said. State funding would get it off the ground without delays.

Begich also proposed putting $300 million of the state's surplus into a fund to promote more efficient electricity generation.

The state fund would offer a 50 percent match on improvements to electrical utilities that produce fuel savings of 15 percent or more.

Anchorage's Municipal Light and Power, Chugach Electric Association and Homer Electric are banding together to build a new, more efficient power plant that would cost $300 million to $400 million, and would qualify.

It would have two gas turbines and a third that runs off steam byproduct. Chugach has estimated it would save up to $35 million a year in fuel costs.

Both the transit kitty and the electrical efficiency fund would help Southcentral and other areas hold down costs.

BOTTOM LINE: The state should use some of its excess billions to take public transit in urban Alaska into the 21st century. And kick in some for efficient utilities, too.

Mitch Abood

I hardly knew Mitch Abood. But I remember three things about him: How he worked the crowd at the Fur Rondy dog weight-pulling contest in 1976, his "not just another pretty face" election campaign in 1980, and a conversation during a campaign event for Sen. Lisa Murkowski in 2004.

In '76 he was the emcee at the dog weight pull that was the first story I covered in Alaska, for The Anchorage Times. On a cold February day that got colder as the afternoon wore on, he kibitzed with the spectators in the football stadium bleachers so they could laugh through their chattering teeth.

"Anybody here from out of state?" he asked.

A shivering cluster of people in the bleachers raised their hands.

"Where are you from?"

"Florida," one of them called out.

"Florida? What the hell are you doin' here?"

I knew he was an old Anchorage and Alaska hand, one of those people who were here before I was, one of those people who knew an Anchorage that was going or gone by 1976.

I laughed when I first saw that bulldog face in his campaign ads. Just about perfect, and probably got him elected.

And I remember his friendliness at the Murkowski press conference. She and campaigners for Democratic candidate Tony Knowles ran dueling "I'm better for veterans" sessions that day. Abood was a vet for Murkowski; I didn't know then what I read in his obituary Wednesday, that he'd earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. We shook hands after the press conference, and we talked a little about veterans' benefits. Then I told him that I still remembered his turn at the mike in 1976, and he laughed that I recalled a 28-year-old gig. Well into his 80s then, he looked as if he still could have played the house well.