People's trust needs to be regained by government

Spectrum, by Chris Whittington-Evans

Last week, Gov. Frank Murkowski floated the possibility of buying back shallow natural gas/coal-bed methane leases In the Mat-Su and Homer areas. Alaskans who live and recreate above and adjacent to the leases are alarmed and angered by the lack of public involvement and the unplanned changes CBM development would bring to their communities. The governor, along with our legislators, need to know the buy back is a good idea and one we should encourage for several important reasons.

An active CBM industry would profoundly alter the lives and landscape of the Valley. Carefully planned for, the industry could provide a degree of economic diversity and an increased tax base. However, the industrial gridwork of CBM -- wells, pipelines, power poles, compressors, water separators and produced water pits -- often conflicts with existing uses surface owners and the public have for their lands. Most folks in the Mat-Su, from all ideological persuasions agree: the health, safety, private property, and environmental problems of CBM, well documented in the Lower 48, are not worth repeating here regardless of the benefits. A buy-back gives citizens a chance to learn more about and have influence over gas development.

We have yet to learn, analyze and adequately plan for the affects CBM production could bring to our communities. Ground water hydrology, drinking water quality and supply information, and methane seepage data need to be gathered and studied in order to predict and prevent problems. Social, economic and environmental impacts must be determined and planned for. And a funding mechanism to offset the high but necessary costs of these studies needs to be implemented preferably through industry sponsorship. A buy-back allows for the thorough review and planning necessary to adequately protect our communities.

Rushing through a regulatory process serves no one's best interests. Currently the state is midway through a four-month process of writing rules governing CBM development in the Valley. By their own admission, the 'task force' project is enormous and the timeline abbreviated. Far less technical planning processes in the Mat-Su have taken years, not months, to accomplish. With the health, safety and property of Alaskans at stake, our state and borough can ill afford to streamline the process of writing well-researched and publicly approved regulations.

Further, retroactively implementing a regulatory scheme upon the 300,000-plus acres already leased could trigger claims against state and local governments. Compare it to leasing a furnished home for your family only later to have the landlord instruct you to only use the left half of the couch on alternate Wednesdays. A buy-back gives state and local authorities the latitude to develop rules unimpeded by litigation threats.

Our state has lost the trust of the people it serves. State representatives, who either don't admit or were ignorant to the down sides of shallow gas development in populated and growing areas, are learning their constituents expect them to know better. Agency regulators, only after citizens demanded, agreed they needed to learn more about how to govern this new industry. Citizens are being forced to take a more active role in watching out for their interests. A buy-back would be an olive branch from an embattled administration and Legislature to the citizens they are bound by law to represent.

Alaska has the chance, once again, to do it differently than is done Outside. Instead of making all state held subsurface land available to shallow gas leasing, we ought to agree in some cases gas extraction cannot coexist with certain preexisting uses -- that neighborhoods, schools, parks and watersheds are too valuable to risk or ruin with industrialization. The only way to secure this opportunity is through buying back the existing leases and retooling the program to better serve the diversity of values Alaskans cherish.

Chris Whittington-Evans is the president of Friends of Mat-Su.