Homer Alaska - Letters

State officials recently touted the oil and gas lease sale in Cook Inlet as a a great day for the Cook Inlet. Ironically, on the very same day, utility managers sat before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, asking to import Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to power southcentral Alaska. That's because they know we are not going to drill our way to energy security in Cook Inlet.

Now, utility mismanagement is forcing Alaskans to rely on foreign producers and global gas markets, which means ever-rising energy costs. It's too late now to fill the natural gas shortages anticipated over the next few years.

But to prevent this problem from getting worse, Alaskans would be best served if our state immediately invested significant sums in the virtually limitless tidal and geothermal energy resources in Cook Inlet. These local energy supplies are cleaner and cheaper in the long run, and they would produce jobs for Alaskans, not foreign gas corporations.

Bob Shavelson

Cook Inletkeeper