You may or may not know who Paul Allen is. He's kind of a big deal. He is the co-founder of Microsoft, and more importantly, owner of the Seattle Seahawks. You may have heard of them. They play football.
I'm going to ask you to imagine something that isn't true. (I'm telling you this so you don't freak out.)
Imagine if this week, Mr. Allen found out that his head coach, Pete Carroll, and Tom Cable, his offensive line and assistant head coach, were writing plays for the Green Bay Packers.
Again, Mr. Carroll and Mr. Cable did not do this. We are pretending -- to make a point.
As the owner, what do you think Mr. Allen would do? I'm guessing his first question would be "Why?! How could you possibly let your owner, team and supporters down so badly?"
On election night just a couple months ago, after it was clear the U.S. Senate would move into Republican control, Sen. Lisa Murkowski raised a chair over her head and screamed, "I am the Chairmaaaaan." Just a few days ago, the new Senate convened, and she assumed her position as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Alaskans have high hopes for what this will mean.
Her first official action? Ramming through a gift for the Canadians and the oil companies -- the Keystone pipeline. Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said, "To hell with politics, just do what's right for Alaska!" I didn't always agree with him, but he was absolutely right on this. How does this pipeline possibly benefit Alaskans? The answer is, it doesn't. Sen. Murkowski's supporters will flail and yell that this somehow does help Alaska, but instead it actually hurts us. Here's how.
The Keystone pipeline project is a pipeline by which TransCanada hopes to bring Canadian tar sands oil across the U.S. to be sold overseas. Alberta tar sands production simply isn't profitable unless the Keystone XL pipeline gets built. By building the pipeline, Murkowski would both drive down oil prices even more and encourage oil companies to invest in Alberta instead of Alaska. Remember TransCanada? The group that Sarah Palin paid $500 million to build our Alaska natural gasline. Remind me what exactly we got for that $500 million? Shouldn't that be a yellow flag?
Alaska oil is selling for about $46 per barrel right now. We are facing a $3.5 billion deficit. Why? A supply glut. If prices don't recover soon, we will face threats of an income tax, a sales tax or raids on the Permanent Fund. The Keystone project puts 590,000 barrels per day on the market, which ramps up to 830,000 barrels per day. What would this do to Alaska's oil? Of course it makes it less valuable. Which makes our budget problems even worse. Kind of like getting tackled with the ball in your own end zone. You'd like those two points back, wouldn't you?
This is a controversial project. Remember how the Republicans and Sen. Dan Sullivan blistered Sen. Mark Begich for not opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for his vote for Obamacare? Well, why, as the chair of the committee that passed this, didn't Sen. Murkowski make up for the massive losses Alaska will face from the creation of this pipeline? She could have put in a provision to open ANWR for oil drilling, or rallied to get revenue sharing for Outer Continental Shelf drilling -- just like they have in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Revenue sharing alone would have netted Alaska about $1 billion in lease revenue alone just a few years ago. I'm thinking now would be a good time for a coach's challenge.
Who exactly were these two representing when they gave away the farm in exchange for nothing? Sen. Sullivan's first week was signing on as a co-sponsor to the Keystone XL legislation that makes Alaska's oil less valuable. Brilliant, sir. I guess you have to dance with the boys that brung ya.
In the fight over state oil taxes, Murkowski was happy to side with the "Keep Alaska Competitive" slogan slinging folks. Um, OK. Doesn't that slogan still apply? Apparently, "Make Canadian Petro Compete With Alaska Petro On The International Market" wasn't as catchy. Remember when it was all about "jobs, jobs, jobs"? We're already in danger of hemorrhaging jobs off the Slope because of the price of oil. Personal foul, 15 yards.
So, Alaska, as an owner state, now knows its coaches are working for another team. Specifically Canada. You know, that nice country with socialized health care. Nothing against our fair neighbors, but Alaska can't afford to compete in an already flooded market.
What would Paul Allen do?
Ironically, President Barack Obama, with a veto of the Keystone XL pipeline bill, is the one looking out for Alaska's economic interest over Canada's. Touchdown!
Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com