After one year and $5000 from the Haines Borough Assembly, the Haines Energy Task Force (HEFT) has presented their work: a 63 page draft report entitled Peak Oil & Energy Transition, that purports to help prepare Haines for all of the inevitable catastrophes that will happen when there’s not enough oil to go around.

Peak oil is the environmental movement’s next issue, as they move past global warming, endangered polar bears, and other scares that could turn into non-issues tomorrow. The theory is that we may have already reached our peak oil production world-wide, and tomorrow’s oil shortages will cause pandemonium. We need to prepare now–which just happens to mean letting the environmentalists tell us what to do. High oil prices are fueling this issue, and more than a few people are getting on board.

As always, I recommend reading both sides of an issue, paying special attention to FACTS. The “peak oil” stuff is easy to find. There are also several resources on line that refute the premise of peak oil in the near future; the best that I found is the thoughtful and complete article at reasononline.com. Also, check out the more recent Wall Street Journal article provided by a reader.

It seems that no matter what the issue, environmentalist solutions are always the same. Predictably, the HEFT paper is no different:

1. Create a new bureaucracy controlled by environmentalists.
2. Give them public money.
3. Give them the authority to tell people what to do (or what NOT to do.)
4. Tie up land and resources, making them unavailable for private ownership or industrial development.

It’s obvious that the only research tool for Haines task force was the Internet. No one consulted the local fuel company, electrical utility, telephone company, firewood supplier, shipping companies or grocery stores. The report contains no energy inventory, discussion of existing plans, discussion of options, analysis or useful conclusions. There is nothing in this paper that helps the Haines Borough or the State of Alaska plan or deal with oil shortages.

Instead, the writers have used their platform (and our money) to rant about peak oil and alternative energy. The myopic ideas contained in the paper are filled with alternative energy buzzwords; their logic conveniently leaves out solutions that encourage growth, private industry or incentives for economic development. For example:

• This paper speaks of “mitigation,” but doesn’t mention the possibility of a gas line from Alaska’s north slope or drilling in ANWR because those ideas are unpopular with the authors.
• They use words like “alternative energy” and “renewable energy sources,” but with no mention of the large-scale hydroelectric potential available in southeast Alaska.
• They describe the effect of high energy costs on the elderly, then they propose fuel and “carbon” taxes. (p40; p19)
• They predict that when folks in Haines switch from oil fueled heat to electrical home energy systems, the increased electrical demand should enable AP&T to lower their electric rates. Did they flunk economics 101? (p2

Even more alarming, the HEFT group does not hesitate to step out of their stated role of energy analysts and delve into the realms of food processing and safety, water resources, education, land ownership, the arts, gardening and berry picking.

• They advocate creating “food preserve” and “potable water preserve” land use classifications, thus enabling further limits to access and land use in the borough.
• They encourage the borough to purchase privately owned arable land for growing food. The borough would rent or lease plots to the public who could farm them, thereby returning agriculture in the valley from a free market economy to a fiefdom.
• Under health care, they propose to encourage or MANDATE preventative care, saying “Prevention has the lowest cost of all health care strategies.”(p41)
• They want to create a local post-secondary campus offering “professional development courses and training in renewable energy, energy conservation, and energy efficiency,” ignoring the likelihood that no market exists for such a school in Haines. (p42)

At the end of the report is a resolution for the Haines Borough Mayor to sign on behalf of the assembly. What does it do? You can probably guess:

1. Form a permanent 9-member “Energy and Community Sustainability Commission.”
2. Give them money and assign a borough staff member to serve this group.
3. Let them “make recommendations” to the Haines Borough Assembly and the Planning Commission on “energy conservation, energy efficiency, sustainability, utilization of renewable energy, economic stability, food security, health, welfare and social viability” in Haines.

The sooner we can get loose from this group, the better. The Haines Borough Assembly needs to say, “Thanks for the report–GOODBYE.”

POSTSCRIPT: Participate in your local government–let them know what you think. At the request of several local folks I am posting a copy of my letter to the Haines Borough mayor and assembly members, delivered yesterday.