Editor's Notebook

摘要

I'm watching an interesting game of political chicken develop in Alaska between their populist governor, Sarah Palin, and the majors. At stake is the North Slope natural gas pipeline. Last summer, riding a crest of voter anger aimed at longstanding corruption among lawmakers and businessmen as well as the strong-arm tactics used by then-Gov. Frank Murkowski in trying to force his deal with the majors down the state's throat, Palin not only destroyed Murkowski in the GOP primary, but defeated his Democratic predecessor, Tony Knowles, in November. Palin's mandate was quite clear: clean up government and get that pipeline built without giving away the store to the majors, meaning BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. The tax plan that Murkowski and the majors had agreed to was dead. Not only that, but the state Legislature held a special session right after the November election and raised the tax rate on oil profits from 22.5% to 25%. That news has not sat well at ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and BP, which have threatened to reduce their capital spending there.