Juneau Independent

A recent opinion piece argued the Assembly should “immediately enter into serious and expedited negotiations for Goldbelt to acquire Eaglecrest.” Here’s the reason why that shouldn’t happen.

Opportunity is defined as “a favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances.” That is exactly what the CBJ Assembly has in front of it. The question is, will they be wise enough to take it or will they squander it.

Every day we make choices — what to wear, what to eat, and how to spend our weekends — and together those decisions reflect our values.

I am not talking about an annual PFD check, but rather Alaska’s original Permanent Fund, the wealth of our natural environment.

A recent opinion piece by former mayoral candidate and prominent member of Affordable Juneau, Angela Rodell, made an assertion that our focus, as a city, should prioritize the annual floods that have caused incredible amounts of property damage to Juneauites, and have necessitated incredible feats of engineering to mitigate, rather than prioritizing those services and facilities that CBJ may need to discontinue due to a sudden decrease in revenue.

“This is the golden age of America,” President Donald Trump proclaimed during his State of the Union speech a few months ago. To his credit, Sen. Dan Sullivan thought it was still important “to acknowledge how working families are struggling with high prices, whether in the grocery store, or in other places.”

As a retired attorney who practiced for over 30 years in Alaska, I still follow the workings of the Alaska Judicial Council (AJC), and its vital role in recommending the judges and justices who preside over our courts.

For those who remember, Mattel’s Chatty Cathy talking doll was revolutionary when it came out in 1959.

Drilling a tunnel into Suicide Basin would drain it from below. But how about draining it from the top?

At the Assembly’s recent budget hearings, person after person stood up to testify in defense of the pools, the field house, the programs that make Juneau the kind of place people stay. I don’t fault them for that and understand why those programs are so important. But not one of those speakers mentioned the flood.

As I write this the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, with no prospect of reopening anytime soon. The result, with a roughly 60-day time lag as the last tankers from the Middle East are emptied and refineries and governments draw down reserves, is growing into the biggest energy shock in the history of industrial civilisation.

Hilcorp, in acquiring BP’s Alaska assets, follows a record of cooperation with our state government that by working together each will formulate a tax solution that will be instrumental in the continued development of Alaska’s energy industry.