In 1976, I and 75,588 forward-thinking Alaska residents voted to create the Alaska Permanent Fund. None of us could have foreseen that within 45 years, that fund would be worth $81 billion. When we voted for the Permanent Fund, it was with the understanding that it was to be used when oil production on the North Slope ceased and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline was dismantled and shipped back to Japan for recycling.
Since there are still 500,000 barrels per day of oil in the pipeline, it looks like the politicians of today don’t buy into that scenario. Today, 80% of state revenue comes from Permanent Fund earnings. If the Permanent Fund had never been created, today the state of Alaska would be facing insolvency. I would encourage Alaska millennials to read the history of the permanent fund to see why we felt we had to create it.
— Brian Hakkinen
Kasilof
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