Anchorage Daily News

Warm up to alternative energy before we face a cold reality

I give. What's the use. Surely $50 billion will be the price to turn the heads of our two "conservative" senators. Never mind that $50 billion, and many billions more, will be filtered though the efficient hands of the federal government, and ultimately paid for by you and me.

Pay tribute to the new religion of Global Warming-ism. And what happens in the coming decades when, as many climatologists who don't have their heads up the government payroll have said, we start moving into the next ice age? Do I hear scoffers? Look it up. What we will do is about-face again and retool the Global Warming-ism back into the Global Cooling-ism of the '70s.

We all want cleaner air. We all -- except the oil profiteers -- want alternative energy. Let's work honestly toward these ideas, and stop acting like crazy people.

-- Richard L. Stevens

Wasilla

Don't omit family practitioners when weighing delivery options

This is in response to the April 21 article by Laura Tolman, who wrote about researching the person who can best help you deliver. First, the article completely omitted a third choice for delivery care: family practitioners. There are both private and public, large and small, clinics here in Anchorage where prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care is done by a doctor who specializes in the family. One physician cares for both mother and baby, and father and siblings also, if desired. Inpatient and outpatient care are included, and is less interventionist in orientation than obstetrician care.

Secondly, I object strongly to Tolman's choice of words when she talks about "hiring care providers." When I act as someone's physician, I am not signing on to do a one-time job and then walk away. I am a committed professional who acts as a patient advocate, helping the patient understand and make decisions about complex health care choices. Often I care for three or four generations of that family over, in my case, 20 years. Please don't reduce childbirth to a job that needs to be done, but honor it as the central life-changing experience it truly is.

-- Liz deSchweinitz, M.D.

Anchorage

Police agencies respond slowly when bear, children are close

I would like to express my annoyance. There was a group of children playing near the north Eagle River exit bridge. There is a grassy hill near the bridge where the kids sled in the winter. The kids spotted a black bear and I tried to report it. I called the police -- their basic response is that the woods are the bear's natural habitat and it belongs there. Maybe Fish and Game might care, but probably not.

I called Fish and Game -- no answer, just machines. I called the Alaska State Troopers, and they directed me to the Wildlife Troopers. No answer, just machines.

I called Fish and Game back and randomly pushed buttons until I got a human. She tried to transfer my call to another department of the Wildlife Troopers. The phone said the number was disconnected and hung up on me.

I tried another number for the Wildlife Troopers and got a lady who finally took my information and reassured me someone would look into it.

I spent 20 minutes trying to track down someone who cared. I realize that the bear has a natural habitat, but now those children feel that the bear is more important to the police and other law enforcement officers than their safety.

-- Kathrine Keller

Eagle River

Legislature's actions at this time will be remembered for years

The decision before this special session of the Legislature is as important and serious as any that has been made since statehood some 50 years ago. It will direct the economics of our state for the next 50 years. Our solons have a grave responsibility.

Andrew Halcro's column on June 1 gives serious caution to committing to an entity, TransCanada, that has no mandatory commitment to build the line nor does it even own any of the gas.

Conoco Phillips -- via Atlantic Richfield -- and BP have a 50- and 40-year history of being dependable and steadfast partners of oil development in our state. They discovered oil on the Kenai and at Prudhoe. We can't just ignore their proposal to build the "Denali Line." They hold a majority of the known gas reserves on the Slope. It would certainly seem a good solution if both proposals were considered by the Legislature.

A $500 million cost to the state without a construction commitment seems inappropriate. It would seem that support of the gas producers should be made mandatory before this half-billion dollars is released.

We will remember what the Legislature does during the next 30 days. It will be critical to our next 50 years that they make the best decision for our families and for our future. It is as big a decision as the Alaska Legislature has ever made.

-- Bob Penney

Soldotna

Instead of Palin energy subsidy, give 'green points' for purchases

Palin's plan to subsidize gasoline consumption will not be received favorably by our nation's policymakers, as much of the world's shortage of oil is attributed to gasoline subsidies.

I propose a "green points" plan to purchase energy saving items such as hybrid cars, solar roofing and siding, wind generators, and fuel-efficient appliances. The state would catalog what items qualify.

In addition to Alaska residents receiving green points, some could be distributed by the airlines through cooperating businesses, together offering package deals whereas the business would accept green points from the airlines (including their state subsidized allotment). Rent-a-car companies, hotel chains and bed and breakfast businesses could benefit from green points (purchasing hybrid vans, energy-efficient washers and dryers, etc.)

The state could build a fleet of natural gas-fueled vans and buses to take tourists to destinations, from Anchorage and other cities as well. The airlines could promote these and offer free service as part of a package.

The money will stay in Alaska. As businesses will have to "contract" with the state to have items cataloged, this will bring new business to the state and control the misuse of funds through unfair pricing.

Alaska is positioned to negotiate its resources, and to present an environmentally conscious program to help meet national alternative energy goals.

-- Brian O'Fallon

Soldotna

With the exorbitant price of fuel in Bush, renewable energy helps

I cannot help but take issue with the Compass article by Meera Kohler on the energy needs of Bush Alaska. Sure, it's true that renewable energy is not the total answer, but I am a believer that every little bit helps. It all adds up at one point or another. That 15 to 30 percent she's talking about is worth something when it can be spent on groceries instead.

Wind generators, however complex they might be, should have been put to use many years ago, but as I wrote some time ago, there was that questionable relationship between the state government and the oil companies. And then not long after, Bill Allen and some sleazy politicians got busted because they were in fact, "in cahoots!" The last thing an oil company wants is people spending less money on fuel.

I think Ms. Kohler should go out and live in one of the villages for a winter on a very limited income to get some perspective.

-- Jack Abraham

Anchorage

Legislators out barnstorming already know how they'll vote

I see where our state solons are going to take the special session of their two-ring circus on a barnstorming tour of Alaska's big towns; ostensibly to ask "we-the-people's" opinion on who should provide a gas line from the North Slope.

Do they really think we know more than the experts they have paid thousands of dollars to tell us what is best for the financial health of Alaska?

We all want a pipeline and they know it! And most of those going tripping have already decided how they intend to vote.

I can hear the "push-poll" questions coming from them in the meetings; "Are you aware that BP/Conoco have a plan that is better than TransCanada's?" For this we will probably spend a million dollars (nothing costs under a million anymore) of the state's money so that Big Oil gets its back scratched by its cohorts running "The Show from Juneau."

It's a shame that the Veco fiasco and the imprisonment of cheating lawmakers has not observably shamed the greedy into playing it straight for a change.

Do you remember, legislators, that you all voted for AGIA when it seemed politically expedient to do so?

--Dick Palmatier Willow

Alaskan should urge lawmakers to back Denali gas line

Wesley Loy's June 6 article, "License seen as gas line catalyst" deceives readers in its first paragraph stating that legislators have no reason not to vote to award TransCanada a license to build. There are plenty of reasons to vote against such an award, and buried on the last page was Dan Dickinson's caution to Alaska legislators that licensing TransCanada doesn't assure a pipeline will be built.

The article also mentions Dickinson's comparison that awarding the license isn't a touchdown and nor was the contract that Murkowski's administration negotiated. So as Alaskans, let's urge our legislators to make the play that will result in the touchdown -- Conoco Phillips' and BP's Denali Plan.

The article states enormous cost and extreme business risk are why a gas pipeline hasn't been built before -- the same reasons legislators should not award a license to Trans-Canada. TC has no commitments that any producer will utilize the pipeline if it is built (this is not a "field of dreams" project). A commercial project of this size and scope should not require funding from the state and AGIA requires the state to provide up to a $500 million subsidy, and under AGIA terms, the state is subject to triple damages if the state grants incentives to any other entity other than TransCanada, regardless of whether the pipeline is built.

-- Judy McKenzie

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