OPINION: We must invest in Alaska

After a decade of outmigration strangling our economy, we need to articulate a clear path to restore economic growth in Alaska. As a guiding principle, the solution is simple: invest in Alaska. Whether the specific challenge at hand is an education system struggling from a decade of cuts, insecurity from imported natural gas, or quality of life threatened by crumbling infrastructure, our response must be rebuilding the institutions and physical infrastructure that any modern society needs for sustained economic growth.

We are stumbling zombie-like toward dependence on imported natural gas that will increase heating and electricity prices dramatically. Our electric cooperatives and Enstar are not primarily responsible for this debacle. Instead, the state of Alaska has failed to leverage our $1.4 billion in Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority assets to develop Cook Inlet gas resources. Cook Inlet gas production has lower marginal profitability than Alaska North Slope oil or Lower 48 unconventional gas production, and therefore will not attract sufficient private investment to supply adequate natural gas. We must invest in Alaska energy production, either through low interest loans or direct equity investments in partnership with producers such as Furie and Bluecrest.

Our electricity costs are far too high, and will not be affordable until the state invests in infrastructure. This year, the Legislature should fund the Dixon Diversion hydro project to augment Bradley Lake hydroelectric power generation and match federal Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships investments, rather than forcing utilities — and therefore ratepayers — with costs that push rates ever higher.

Nearly two decades ago, the Legislature eliminated dependable retirement benefits for police, firefighters and teachers. As a result, Alaska now suffers from dire workforce shortages: 60 vacant positions in the Anchorage Police Department, 75 in the Alaska State Troopers, and some 400 vacancies in the Anchorage School District. High vacancy rates and turnover have devastating impacts. Inadequate police presence means catastrophic levels of street crime and a hostile environment for businesses. Teaching vacancies are forcing parents to ask, is it responsible to stay here or should we move south for the benefit of our kids? SB 88, advanced by Sen. Cathy Giessel last year, would fix these problems with a fiscally conservative, modern retirement system. We cannot reverse outmigration without fixing Alaska’s broken retirement system.

The other prime driver of outmigration is huge class sizes. A decade of education funding cuts mean parents are leaving for school districts with smaller class sizes, or refusing to move here even when employers offer generous pay and benefit packages. It is tragic that we’re losing out on working-age families staying here at a time when there are high numbers of good jobs on the North Slope and in urban centers. Let’s be honest about recent history: Defunding of education is the primary cause of outmigration, and the solution is to invest in Alaska and make our home a great place to raise a family.

As business leaders have told us repeatedly, modern economic development must be rooted in quality of life. Unfortunately, the state has disinvested from basic quality of life amenities for a decade. Across the U.S., skilled workers are moving to communities with good quality of life. Unfortunately, compared to Lower 48 communities that are thriving, we’ve failed to invest in parks, trails, libraries and other amenities offered by our competitors. At the local level, Anchorage residents should support the business community’s Project Anchorage initiative to invest in quality of life and economic growth. At the state level, we made a range of wise capital investments in this year’s budget, but the governor vetoed most of those projects.

Our work this year is harder because the radical Washington, D.C.-based organization Americans for Prosperity, aka AFP, is spending well more than $100,000 to elect candidates who want to continue defunding the police and defunding public education. To reverse outmigration, we have to reject destructive campaigns like this, because AFP’s agenda would lock Alaska into even longer-term economic decline.

Outmigration has been occurring for so long that we now risk becoming accustomed to it. That is very dangerous. We have to honestly address the causes of outmigration and work together to restore economic growth. Credit to Rep. Mary Peltola for convening a forum last week to focus attention on reversing outmigration. We should continue planning in detail about how we can develop affordable energy, strengthen public education and ensure we have safe streets so businesses can thrive. While these are complex subjects, at the root, the solution to outmigration is simple: We must invest in Alaska.

Zack Fields represents downtown Anchorage and surrounding neighborhoods in the Alaska House of Representatives.

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