Mike Dunleavy on Environment

Opposes the "Stand for Salmon" ballot measure

A: Dunleavy said he's a "no" on Ballot Measure 1. "We have environmental protections in place," he said. "If Ballot Measure 1 passes or similar measures pass and we continue to tighten up on our ability to create projects and put people to work, I don't know where we're going to get the money. I don't know what's going to become of Alaska."

Monetize timber instead of letting it burn or rot

But for the most part, we don't manage our resources well in the state of Alaska. Timber, for example. What we do now in the state of Alaska is we basically let the timber just burn or rot and fall down. We don't put it to use. We don't monetize it.

The 300,000 barrels of oil that we have recently discovered on the North Slope, we need to get that into the pipeline as soon as possible. That will lower the tariff costs for the pipeline, providing more money for the state, royalties and taxes. This will provide the revenue we need for our programs.

So at this stage of the game, with oil revenues, prices of oil at about $70 a barrel, we may not have to cut like we had to or we envisioned a few years ago when oil was at $26 a barrel.