Decision on big projects fiscally sound

This editorial originally appeared in the Wednesday edition of the Juneau Empire.

This editorial isn’t in favor of the Juneau Access Road. Gov. Bill Walker’s actions last week aren’t in favor of the road, either.

On July 6, Walker ordered work on three Alaska megaprojects to resume. Last year, soon after taking office, he had ordered the Alaska Department of Transportation and the Alaska Energy Authority to stop work on the Juneau Access Project, Knik Arm Crossing and the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project.

The state couldn’t afford them, he said, and he ordered work be ground to a halt, pending review.

What that review found — almost across the board — was that if the state stopped all three projects in their tracks, it could be forced to repay millions of dollars to the federal government.

Federal money comes with federal rules — the federal government wants to see a completed project when it spends its money. If the state stopped all work, it would be like a leased car owner abandoning her car in the middle of the street.

That kind of thing doesn’t make the car’s lienholder happy, it doesn’t make other drivers happy, and it doesn’t make the police happy. Indeed, it’s far better to pull it into a parking spot before turning off the engine.

That’s what Walker’s actions do, especially in regard to Juneau Access. When we hear that Gov. Walker is allowing work to progress, our immediate thought is that a road will soon be built.

Not so.

Walker is merely putting the project into a safe parking spot.

We fully expect the state to complete the environmental assessment portion of the Road, receive a final “Record of Decision” from federal highway officials, then step away from the project for a few years — if not forever.

If the state were to cancel the environmental process right now, midstream, it would be required to repay $27 million within a few years. If it first obtains that record of decision, it can put the project on hold for more than a decade without penalty.

Reaching that Record of Decision will cost about $900,000 in state money plus an undetermined amount of federal money.

The Record of Decision would select a final route for the Road, and after that, the plans can be safely shelved.

The knee-jerk reaction is to consider Walker’s move a victory for pro-Road forces. Take another look, we say, and you’ll see it’s nothing of the kind.

We don’t see this as a pro-Road or an anti-Road move by the governor. We see this as a smart move designed to best address the state’s financial situation.