Кандидаты в губернаторы Аляски призывают к комплексной экономической стратегии для развития штата

Anyone who has spent time in Alaska knows how to build a fire. A single log in an empty fire pit won’t burn. But place several logs together, and it’s a different story. Each log reflects heat onto the others, and the fire grows hotter and burns longer. Strong economies work the same way. Too often, political debates focus on a single solution. Build a pipeline. Develop a mine. Cut regulations. Increase land sales. Invest in infrastructure. Each idea may have value, but none of them is enough alone. Alaska’s future depends on several pieces working together, each reinforcing the others, just like logs in a fire. We all know Alaska has enormous advantages: some of the world’s richest energy resources, vast lands, abundant minerals, fisheries, forests and one of the most opportunity-driven populations anywhere. So why does Alaska remain one of the most expensive places in America? The problem is not a lack of resources. The problem is that too many of the logs are lying apart from one another. The first log is affordable energy. Energy is the heat source that drives modern economies. When power costs are high, businesses pay more. Homes cost more to heat. Resource projects are harder to justify. Families leave for opportunities elsewhere. That is why Alaska must pursue both near-term and long-term gas solutions. The large Alaska LNG project remains a critical long-term goal. At the same time, a smaller pipeline moving North Slope gas to tidewater could deliver benefits much sooner. These projects are not competitors. They are different logs feeding the same fire. We need logs for geothermal, hydropower and small modular reactors. The longstanding obstacle of high-cost energy will burn away when we prioritize and develop an energy portfolio. This is how we achieve low-cost energy. The next log is land ownership. Today, the government owns most of Alaska’s land. That leaves families, entrepreneurs, farmers and future homeowners with fewer opportunities than citizens enjoy in other states. A modern Homestead Act will change that. When people own land, they build homes. They start farms. They open businesses. They invest in their communities. But here is the beauty: Low-cost energy and private land accomplish far more together than either can alone. Cheap energy and affordable land make agriculture and timber harvest viable. They reduce construction costs and operating expenses for businesses. More education dollars go to classrooms instead of utilities. Individuals save on groceries, healthcare — on all goods and services. Land ownership gives families a place to invest and build wealth. One log heats the other. The remarkable happens. New businesses emerge. Resource development is more attractive. The scrape-and-take mentality ends. Value-added processing begins. Manufacturing grows. Communities expand. Property values rise. Jobs are created. Local governments become more self-sufficient. That is the third log: a thriving private-sector economy. And just like a fire, the heat begins to feed itself. As economic activity grows, government becomes less burdened by dependency and crisis management. Families create opportunities for themselves. Communities build local tax bases. Investment attracts more investment. What began as a few separate pieces becomes a self-sustaining system. Alaska does not suffer from a shortage of fuel. What we need is to arrange the logs properly. Low-cost energy. Land in Alaskans’ hands. A diversified, strong economy that supports families, communities and future generations. When those pieces work together, they create something Alaska has not seen in a long time: a fire that burns hot enough to light the future. We are the Hughes-Gettys ticket. We know what our mission is. It’s time to unite, solve decades-old problems and take Alaska to a whole new level. We have an action plan with feasible steps to light the fire. We respectfully request your vote Aug. 18 as the first spark to ignite Alaska’s renaissance. Sen. Shelley Hughes and Gen. Blake Gettys (Ret.) are Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. The Anchorage Daily News welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to [email protected] or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.