Take care of Alaskans before helping Outside developers

Frontiersman editorial board

The flames are picking up again in the ongoing debate over coal-bed methane development in the Valley.

Evergreen Resources Inc. recently filed to convert more than 80,000 acres to CBM exploration. Alaska's Department of Natural Resources staff, citing rules that protected companies holding previous leases, knocked the number of acres Evergreen could convert down to about 35,000.

Some of that land is home to subdivisions, and is somewhat densely populated. The process to convert the CBM leases to exploration status now will enter a public-comment period.

At the same time, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly moved ahead with its plan to establish local regulations that will place limits on CBM development in populated areas.

The state had asked the borough to postpone its regulations pending the completion of state regulations, but the assembly, by a narrow margin, decided to ignore the state's request.

In preliminary drafts, the borough regulations are more strict than state regulations, and would curtail gas development in subdivisions, and near homes on larger lots.

As all of this goes on, we draw slowly closer to some form of CBM development in our community. The argument all along has not been over whether coal-bed methane should be developed in Alaska.

The argument has been over priorities and precedence. Is CBM development more important than personal property rights? Should state regulations take precedence over local regulations? Should possible economic growth take priority over environmental concerns? Those are the questions at the heart of the debate.

Some borough assembly members think the assembly should have waited for the state regulations. They question the rush to draft this language.

The truth is, it's almost too late for meaningful action. Bills that passed with little fanfare and leases that were sold essentially under the radar have created an environment that favors the rights of gas developers over the rights of property owners.

Our own legislators drafted and passed legislation after conferring with developers, but didn't afford their own constituents the same consideration.

The borough is right to draft stringent regulations, and we urge the state to move cautiously forward on CBM development, protecting the rights of Alaskans first and then considering the rights of Outside developers.