THE LINK: JANUARY 2024 22 The Legislature’s 2024 agenda will be heavy on energy and natural resource legislation, legislative leaders told the Resource Development Council Jan. 11. What is unlikely in 2024, however, is passage of oil and gas taxes and a bill that sets mandates for renewable energy in the power supply “portfolio” for Southcentral and Interior Alaska electric co-ops, the legislators said. Alliance CEO Rebecca Logan and RDC Executive Director Leila Kimbrell moderated a panel that included State Sens. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks; Jesse Bjorkman, R-Kenai; Kelly Merrick R-Eagle River; James Kaufman, R-Anchorage and Rep. Tom McKay, R-Anchorage. Here are key points raised: n Sen. Merrick feels the intense partisanship of previous legislative sessions has started to subside. “Without cooperation we’re not going to get anything done,” she said. Also, that 2024 is an election year where substantial legislation is unlikely is just an excuse for not tackling tough problems, she said. n Rep. McKay said there’s urgency in tackling the pending Cook Inlet natural gas shortage and that the way to do it is with incentives. Oil producing nations like Indonesia tackle this with royalty and tax holidays until companies recover costs. McKay noted a bill by Rep. George Rausher, R-Palmer, would remove royalties from Cook Inlet leases. Gov. Mike Dunleavy will introduce a similar bill, but it may be more modest than what Rauscher proposes. “Alaska needs to be much more aggressive in tackling this. We need to chart our own course,” McKay said. “ft we wait for something to happen, it won’t,” he said. n Sen. Click Bishop said, “We need to crack the code on high energy costs,” which impede economic development, particularly mining projects. Bishop points to Iceland as an example of what energy resources can do when combined with consistent government policy. Iceland has commercial power rates of less than two cents per kilowatt hour and residential rates of 7 cents or under, in stark contrast with Alaska’s rates that are much higher despite Alaska’s ample endowment of energy resources inLegislature: Agenda focused on resources Photo Courtesy Judy Patrick
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