Murkowski big on development

July 22, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Gov. Frank Murkowski isn't ready to say whether he'll run for re-election in 2006, but in an interview with the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman editorial board Tuesday, he made it very clear that when his stint as governor is finished, he wants to leave a legacy of having substantially helped to develop Alaska's resources, renewable and non-renewable alike.

In fact, Murkowski said his initial decision to serve as governor was born of a concern over the state's economic development strategies, or lack thereof.

"We weren't moving decisively on what kind of economy we wanted," he said, Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by his staff and Frontiersman reporters. "We relied too much on federal spending and the military."

Murkowski said Alaska is a resource state - not a consumer state - and he wants to kick development into high gear in the coming years.

Currently, he's focused on negotiating for the development of a gas pipeline that will run from the North Slope, through Canada and down to the continental U.S. When that's finished, he said he'd consider whether to run for governor again.

"I set my priorities, and my current priority is to finish the gas line negotiations," he said. "We don't have an election until 2006. I can tell you, though, that I haven't accomplished all I set out to do."

Murkowski cited a number of unfinished priorities, including: opening another entry into Denali National Park to encourage tourism, increasing the amount of ships that go into Glacier Bay National Park, opening more lands on the North Slope to encourage small companies to seek development leases, and to explore oil and gas reserves on the Alaska Peninsula.

Other projects included extending the Alaska Railroad to northern British Columbia, developing coal and zinc mines in the state and building a road to Juneau.

The Juneau road, he said, won't settle the debate on relocating the state capital to the population center in Southcentral Alaska, but he said the road construction is just a matter of time.

"It's controversial, but it'll happen," he said. "Every state capital ought to have road access."

While developing Alaska's resources is top priority for Murkowski, he said the state needs to focus on its strengths, and for the most part, he said that isn't agriculture or manufacturing.

Murkowski praised the recovering salmon fisheries for better marketing strategies and quality-control measures, but he was less than enthusiastic about the prospects of developing a vegetable processing plant in Palmer to process locally grown veggies to then sell statewide.

"Good luck," he said. "We've tried it time and time again, but the seasons are so short and the profits so marginal."

And manufacturing?

"It's very difficult," he said, adding that, historically, shipping materials to and from the state for manufacturing has proved too expensive to compete with outside manufacturers.

For the most part, Murkowski said he believes the state will build a viable economy only by marketing its resources to outside consumers.

With a limited population base, he said the consuming power of Alaskans isn't strong enough to support industry.

"We are a resource state," he said. "We don't consume much here, so we can't compete with the world market."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.