|
Walker holds transition meetings, names 2 Governor-elect tells RDC conference he will aggressively pursue ANWR drilling, fight those opposed to Alaska resource development Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
As the winning ‘unity’ ticket of Bill Walker and Byron Mallot moved rapidly toward a Dec. 1 inauguration, the governor- and lieutenant governor-elect held transition meetings, Walker named two cabinet members and other officials and spoke at the annual Resource Development Council conference in Anchorage Nov. 20.
Vote counting dragged on after the Nov. 4 election, but Walker said at the RDC conference that once it looked likely he would become governor he contacted the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, the Alliance and RDC, asking to meet with their boards.
Walker said he sat down with the boards “to give them assurances of my passion for Alaska, my passion for oil in the pipeline, my passion for opening ANWR.” He said he had been to Washington, D.C., dozens of times to testify for opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. “I will be extremely aggressive as your governor in opening ANWR: It’s time that we do that,” he said.
Walker also said he would “continue what has been started.” He said there has been concern that he would want to start over. ‘I’m not a start-over person,” he said. Noting that he has a construction background, Walker said he’s remodeled a lot of houses and done a lot of construction work. “I’ve never started over. I always finish the job that I’ve been handed and that’s what I’ll do this time.”
More companies Walker said in addition to wanting to see more oil in the pipeline he wants to see more oil companies in Alaska.
“I want to see barriers to entry lessened in such a way that more companies can come to Alaska,” he said.
But, he said, he applauds the companies who are here now.
Born in Alaska, Walker said he knows the level of services available in the state before the first North Slope well was drilled.
“You can’t be anything but absolutely pro-oil development in this state to be a successful governor these days.”
He called for diversifying the state’s economy, but said Alaska is “an oil and gas state. ... We need to drill more; we need to get more oil in the pipeline; and we ... just need to be more aggressive with those that don’t allow us, will not allow us to do that.”
He called the trans-Alaska oil pipeline “the safest pipeline in the world” and said “we need to make sure that it is full of oil.”
On the Alaska liquefied natural gas project, Walker said he raised his hand 37 years ago in Valdez in favor of involvement in a gas line, “and I still have my hand in the air, because ... that’s still a project that we need to be advancing.”
“So the thought that I would do anything but expedite and move along a gas line is foolish, because I will be extremely aggressive in that regard.”
He noted the state’s fiscal concerns with the price of oil dropping, and said he “had a good conversation” with House Speaker Mike Chenault and Senate President Kevin Meyer about working together to address the state’s fiscal situation.
“But it’s not only a matter of fiscal situation, it’s about what can we do to grow our economy - and that’s where you come in,” he told the RDC audience, saying he would be reaching out to them.
As far as the administration, he said “I’m not going to try to fix something that’s not broken. I’m not taking office to slow anything down. There are a lot of things that are working very well and they’ll continue.”
Some areas can be improved, but it’s not about wholesale change, Walker said, “it’s about Alaska; it’s about Alaska moving forward; it is about the future.”
Some positions filled Walker began naming administrative officials Nov. 19, with Jim Whitaker of Fairbanks named as chief of staff and Grace Jang of Anchorage named spokeswoman.
Whitaker has been mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, an Alaska legislator and a Fairbanks businessman.
“I have known Jim for many years and regard him as a trusted advisor,” Walker said in a statement.
Jang was most recently an investigative reporter and executive producer at KTUU Channel 2 in Anchorage.
Walker named his first two commissioners Nov. 22, Randall Hoffbeck at the Department of Revenue and Mark Myers at the Department of Natural Resources.
Hoffbeck was chief financial officer for the North Slope Borough from 2006-11, and was Mayor Charlotte Brower’s chief of staff in 2012. His 30 years of tax administration experience includes time as the petroleum property assessor for the state from 2001-06.
Myers has been vice chancellor of research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the past four years. From 2006 to 2009 he was national director of the U.S. Geologic Survey and from 2009-10 he was Alaska’s first Natural Gas Inducement Act coordinator. He was director of DNR’s Division of Oil and Gas from 2001-05.
| 