Biden worries oil industry

My dog Bonnie got my vote in 2016 but this year it looks like I’ll have to go with incumbent President Donald Trump.

I voted for my goldendoodle last time because I couldn’t bring myself to support either of the two major-party challengers, Trump or Hillary Clinton. I’m still not all that enthralled with Trump but his problems primarily relate to his sometimes obnoxious personality. For the most part he champions the right causes and has done a very effective job of managing the nation’s economy — to the extent that is possible for any president.

The problem with Democratic challenger Joe Biden is both that he is a Democrat and, most importantly, that he opposes oil and gas development in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Since oil development is the foundation of Alaska’s economy, I’m going with Donald Trump, who supports oil development here.

The big problem with voting for Trump is that my wife considers Trump a dolt and she may stop speaking to me if I cast my ballot for him. She is put off by the rough spots in the President’s personality.

I support oil development because it offers an important base for our economy, good jobs for our people and provides billions of dollars in taxes and royalties. I was a senior manager for 11 years at ARCO, the now-defunct company that made the Prudhoe Bay discovery, and have worked as a consultant to all of the major oil companies operating here. I have high regard for the people who run those companies and the way they do business. The only one I didn’t have any experience with is Hilcorp, which I’ve heard good things about.

Hilcorp wasn’t a major player here before I shut down my consulting company in 2000 to become an editorial writer and columnist for The Voice of The times. I started my Alaska career as a reporter for The Anchorage Times in 1967 and when Bill Tobin called to invite me to join him and Paul Jenkins at the surviving editorial page of The Times (then running in the Daily News) I couldn’t resist. It was like getting paid for being a kid again though I had to take a pay cut to drop all my clients.

Forbes Magazine quotes a top industry consultant as saying that if Biden wins, “the US oil and gas industry should prepare for far-reaching potential changes.” The article notes that the most eye-catching of Biden’s proposals for the industry is a promise to ban “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.”

And folks, if that happens Alaska’s future economy could be toast. Biden is currently leading in the polls though that could change between now and November 3, but the situation is scary.

The Forbes article notes that Biden’s plans are unclear. If he is elected they could range anywhere from a ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters to putting a complete stop to drilling and production. That extreme seems unlikely and it is of utmost importance that the companies be allowed to develop discoveries already made on the Slope.

Biden as president would almost certainly cut off the possibility of opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, which Trump currently has on the table.

Alaska’s best hope for the next decade or more is probably in development and production on discoveries already made here. Those hold great hope for the years ahead and could provide thousands of jobs and billions in payrolls and state revenues.

So I’m voting to keep Donald Trump in the White House. If you see my wife, tell her I said Hello.

Tom Brennan is an Anchorage columnist and author of five books. He was a reporter/columnist for The Anchorage Times and an editor and columnist at The Voice of The Times.