Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

On Wednesday at a gubernatorial forum hosted by the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, Bill Walker continued his criticism of Sean Parnell’s decision to veto SB 305, a bill aimed at protecting the state from giving the North Slope producers $20 billion to ship our gas and jobs into Canada.

“This is why I’m running for Governor because I can’t stand to watch us give our resources to a neighboring country and our kids are looking for work and we have unemployment in Kenai at 12.6%. It is wrong what Parnell is doing – trying to make sure AGIA is successful at all costs. I would end that,” said Walker in front of a packed house at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage.

Sean Parnell responded directly to Walker saying that the number one reason he made the veto was because it represented a “tax increase” on the oil industry.

“That bill, if I would have signed it, would have amounted to a total tax increase on the industry,” said Parnell.

According to Walker, Parnell’s response was misleading and inappropriate.

“Protecting the people of Alaska from a $20 billion mistake that was accidentally built into the original AGIA contract does not amount to a tax increase,” said Walker. “Along with delivering affordable energy to communities across Alaska, the primary goal of a natural gas pipeline is to offset declining revenues from an oil pipeline that is now two-thirds empty. Sean Parnell has decided that his primary goal is instead to protect AGIA at all costs, even if that means putting us in a position to effectively pay the North Slope producers to take our gas into Canada, with no real benefit to the state of Alaska.

“It was never the intention of AGIA that Alaska residents would pay Exxon, BP and ConocoPhillips $20 billion to take Alaska’s gas into Canada,” concluded Walker.

Bill Walker is a lifelong Alaskan. He served as mayor of Valdez at the age of 27 before entering the private sector as a successful business owner (construction, tourism, real estate, law). He has decades of experience in Alaska’s oil and gas, tourism, local government and other issues and is a longtime advocate for the development of Alaska’s natural resources.