LETTER: Want to know who took your dividend? Look in the mirror.

To the editor:

Over and over Valley Voters have sent legislators to Juneau determined to let Exxon, and Conoco take Alaska's oil for a fraction of it's real value. Doesn't do much for you but it's a great way for your legislators to get their next campaign financed. Want proof? (1.) When oil dropped into the $40 range, every fracking operation in Canada and the lower 48 began shutting down and Alaska's oil kept right on drilling and right on flowing. Proof that Prudhoe is the lowest cost production in North America. (2.) When two oil lobbyists and six legislators were jailed ten years ago, your legislators Lyda Green and Vic Kohring lost control. The legislators who gained control doubled the taxes on oil, and as you may remember, you got a $3,200 dollar dividend that year. The oil companies threatened to leave as they always do, but kept right on investing, drilling, and pumping. With the new tax, we saved up that $17 billion we have been spending down ever since the oil companies, with the help of an endless string of Wasilla legislators, got back in the drivers seat. Don't spend the rest of your life in the dark. Click here to see how Alaska's profit sharing with oil companies compares to profit sharing between owner and producer in the rest of the world.

— Ray Metcalfe

Anchorage