Chamber to reconsider AGIA letter
Published Saturday, June 21, 2008
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Stumble It!ANCHORAGE — The Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce will reconsider a recent position statement on the Alaska gas pipeline in response to criticism from local lawmakers that the statement was rushed and misguided.
The statement came in the form of a letter drafted to Gov. Sarah Palin and state lawmakers letter drafted to Gov. Sarah Palin and state lawmakers advising them to carefully consider TransCanada’s gas line proposal before granting a state license and subsidy to the Canadian company under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
The letter did not specifically endorse the competing project pursued by North Slope producers BP and ConocoPhillips, dubbed Denali, but was generally supportive of it.
The chamber’s board of directors approved the letter by a 12-1 vote during a special meeting Monday.
The letter caused the immediate resignation of the group’s president and CEO, Jewelz Nutter, who said the vote would hurt the organization because of the appearance of a conflict of interest involving board chairman Rick Solie, a ConocoPhillips employee. (Solie excused himself from all debate on the issue, according to other board members.)
The letter also caused a sharp response from state Sen. Gary Wilken, a Republican from Fairbanks and former chamber chairman, who challenged the letter itself and the process that led to its approval.
“I viewed the letter as anti-AGIA and pro-Denali,” he said on Friday. “And that’s exactly where we shouldn’t be.”
Wilken described the chamber’s process as rushed in light of the importance of the issue.
Board members were given a draft of the four-page letter on Friday and voted on it Monday.
Wilken urged chamber members to reconsider the letter at a meeting Wednesday of the group’s executive committee, which was also attended by Rep. Mike Kelly, another Fairbanks Republican.
“I was very upset,” Wilken said later. “I think that this issue is so big, so important, that the chamber ought to have taken the time to hear both sides and make a reasoned decision.”
Kelly could not be reached Friday.
Chamber board members on Friday defended their process, which they said included six weeks of discussions by the chamber’s government relations committee and extensive review of the two proposals.
Margaret Russell, a member of the committee, said the only thing different about the process was Solie’s absence.
“It was a good process; it was a consistent process,” she said.
Russell described the meeting Wednesday with Wilken and Kelly as “very rare and highly unusual.”
But members of the executive committee on Wednesday decided to give the board a chance to reconsider the letter, and three of the 12 board members who supported the letter on Monday asked for an opportunity to reconsider, according to chair-elect Jack Wilbur.
The chamber board will take up the issue at its next regular meeting, which is scheduled for Monday.
Community Discussion
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Yum, a big bite of crow...tastes like rotten chicken.
It's precisely what I'd expect from some business reps. Fortunately they don't speak for all of fairbanks, just a small portions of the special interests groups.
Seriously, the state is spending millions in research, advisors, committees and not to mention the many days of discussions, and yet this small group of local business reps think they know better.
Thank goodness Gov Palin seems to distance herself well from special interests groups.
So, what's new, the Fairbanks chamber always seems to represent the special interests of a few board members and seldom if ever represents the best interests for the community.
Amazing what a lot of negative publicity can do to change some people's mind.
Hmmmmmm...... I thought public comment was for the public to speak its mind to the legislature. This looks like the thought police on patrol! Wilkens has some explaining to do!
ooops look like they are making the wrong decisions without the President and should reconsider the resignation letter also.
Who ever was making this decision should request for resignation,before further damage is done.
The Chamber's recent antics reminds one of the old story of the fly that sat on the axle of the chariot racing along a dirt road. The fly said, "My what a large cloud of dust I make."
If I were a business in Fairbanks, I would have immediately withdrawn my membership in the chamber with the publication of this letter. It smacks of Big Oil and is NOT in the best interest of Fairbanks. I agree with other posts, its amazing what public opinion can do towards changing people's minds!!
The GFCC board may not have fully understood the ramifications of "the letter". The Palin Administration has made it quiet clear that the 20 "must have" are not subject to speculation. Nor is the EXXON Point Thomson "none performance" still open to foot dragging schemes.
It may have been a better approach for the GFCC to actively invite the various gas line companies to build "Corporate construction/production head quarters" in Fairbanks, which is the natural hub of any North Slope gas development. In other words, what happened to the WELCOME WAGON?
I doubt even they know what the hell they're doing, what with the story in the paper, then the community perspective saying, "wait -- we didn't mean what you said we said!"
The Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce made it very clear that they represent the interests of the oil industry. They can reconsider all they want, but most of us got the message loud and clear. I will look at any future actions with the same skepticism as if I was reading Bill Allen's "Voice of the Times."
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