Pipeline win shows local unity

Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner: Fairbanks North Star Borough leaders past and present deserve some credit following last week’s ruling by an Anchorage Superior Court judge regarding the valuation of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

Judge Sharon Gleason determined the pipeline system had a value of $9 billion, nine times the value placed on it by the owner companies. The Fairbanks borough was among the local governments that went to court seeking a higher valuation.

A lower value means the oil companies would have to pay less in property taxes to the local governments through whose jurisdictions the pipeline passes.

Now, because of the ruling, the Fairbanks borough stands to gain about $8 million in property taxes for the years 2007 through 2009.

This isn’t the first time local governments along the pipeline have won in lawsuits about the pipeline’s value. This latest victory, though, shows the unity of mayoral administrations and assembly lineups over time.

Judge Gleason’s ruling makes many observations about the pipeline and about oil resources. Government leaders, news reporters and industry representatives in Alaska will be analyzing it in the days and weeks ahead. It may have implications for the coming legislative debate about oil taxes.