All-Alaska Governor

Scott Bowlen, Ketchikan Daily News Staff Writer, July 3, 2010

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker made a whirlwind visit to Ketchikan earlier this week, meeting with a variety of groups and local officials in addition to opening his campaign headquarters in Ketchikan and speaking to the First City Republican Women’s Club. “It was a great trip and a great time,” Walker said Thursday from Anchorage, just before heading out for campaign stops in Eagle River and Seward.

Walker, an Anchorage-based attorney, businessman and former mayor of Valdez, is running in the GOP primary election against a crowded field that includes incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell, Ralph Samuels, Sam Little, Gerald Heikes and Merica Hiatcu. He said his campaign theme is “all about jobs, and the economy, and growing the economy and growing the jobs, and lowering the cost of energy.”

His central focus is on building an “all-Alaska” pipeline that would supply natural gas to Alaska communities in addition to shore terminals for export to other markets. Walker said he finds that Southeast Alaska is aware of the importance of an all-Alaska pipeline.

He said 90 percent of the state’s revenue comes from the existing oil pipeline, which is operating at about one-third capacity, while the volume of oil flowing through the pipeline is declining about 6 percent a year. “When it reaches the point where they can’t run the pipeline in the winter because of the temperature, that’s when 90 percent of our revenues in the state will stop,” Walker said. “That would be 90 percent of the revenues for education, public safety … municipal grants, etc. That will all be cut by 90 percent if the oil pipeline stops. And I think that most people recognize that, that we’ve built an economy on the oil throughput and that’s going away.”

In addition to being another revenue source, Alaska can use natural gas like Scandinavian countries do, according to Walker. There, compressed natural gas is brought to barges and moved to locations that need the energy. The gas-bearing barges are swapped out like “propane bottles on a barbecue,” said Walker. “Anybody that’s accessible by road or water would have access to low-cost, clean-burning natural gas,” Walker said. He added that Alaska vehicles should be using natural gas, which he described as a resource Alaskans should be using in their homes also. “(If) you have other, more economical, opportunities, then by all means do that,” Walker said. “But in the interim, natural gas creates a tremendous opportunity in the state of for value-added resources.”

Walker said he’s very focused on getting Alaska off of a reliance on diesel fuel and into renewable sources like hydro, geothermal and tidal energy, stressing his view that low-cost energy is the “real key ” building an economy. He said he’s impressed with the hydro opportunities in Southeast Alaska, where more interties and other work are needed toward realizing the region’s hydro potential.

Walker has a broad view of “renewable resources,” naming timber, fishing and tourism as among the opportunities in that category. Timber was one of several topics during Walker’s meetings with various groups on Monday and Tuesday. “I certainly heard a lot of discussion about the timber issue and the Tongass (National Forest) issue,” he said. He said the difference between the anticipated goal for how much timber would be available from the Tongass and what actually occurred is “astounding.” “I’m so concerned and frustrated that we’ve sort of slid to where we are in that issue,” Walker said. “And I that think we need to be more aggressive … to get back what the original deal was, and stop continuing to slide away from that renewable-resource opportunity.”

Walker also met with Alaska Marine Highway System officials, and said that, coming from Valdez, he’s very aware of the importance of the marine highway system to the state’s economy and the communities served by the system. He said he has visited the Ketchikan Shipyard three or four times, and brags about what’s happening there around the state. The Ketchikan Shipyard should be involved in building vessels to replace the aging ships in the AMHS fleet. “I will do everything I can within my power to ensure that the Ketchikan Shipyard is the builder of our new ferries,” Walker said, adding that he’s “horrified” that the state might be pre-empted from building those ships here because it has used federal money on the Alaska Class Ferry project. “My goodness. If we end up building those somewhere in Washington or the NASCO shipyard in San Diego, shame on us,” Walker said. “Those should be built here in Alaska.”

Walker also met with representatives of the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau while in town. He said he can relate to tourism because he has been in the business with a hotel in Valdez. Valdez was hurt in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because they prompted the closure of Alyeska’s marine terminal to tours. “We went from 99 cruise ships in one year in Valdez to zero in two years,” Walker said. “One of the biggest draws for Valdez was gone. And shortly thereafter, the cruise ships were gone. I recognize the benefit that cruise ships bring to Ketchikan.”

Walker met with commercial and charter fishing participants in Ketchikan, in addition to representatives of the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association that operates some of the local hatcheries that produce salmon. “That was very, very helpful,” Walker said. “I’m very familiar with aquaculture because I come from Prince William Sound where we have several … very successful aquaculture programs there.”

Speaking of fishing, Walker said one of the most common questions he hears in Southeast Alaska is where he’ll reside if elected as governor. “My answer’s always been, without hesitation, ‘I’m going to live in Juneau,’” Walker said. “But I’m going to modify that. I’m going to say, ‘We’re going to live in Juneau, but we’re going to fish in Ketchikan.’ Because there’s just something magical about Ketchikan.” He quickly acknowledged that the comment sounded like a political remark from a politician. He apologized, saying, “That’s not what I do. I don’t pander.” “I just, I don’t know, I really enjoy it there,” he said.

Opening the campaign office at The Plaza mall Monday evening was “very exciting,” Walker said. “It’s beautifully set up, and I was so humbled by all that’s been done for our campaign by our incredible volunteers in Ketchikan,” he said. His campaign plans to have a presence in the local Fourth of July parade, and Walker plans to be in town for the Blueberry Arts Festival.

He said he’s been encouraged by the campaign momentum he’s seeing statewide.