Going Rogue: An American Life (57 page)

amount

of oil. The leases in question were the subject of a prior expansion agreement that would substantially enlarge the area in which ExxonMobil was permitted to drill. Of course, the big question was, why would DNR approve an expansion when ExxonMobil had sat on the unit for more than twenty-five years and had never successfully sunk a drill bit?

The Murkowski administration had even recognized the injusrice of this situation and had begun raking sreps to force ExxonMobil to drill or relinquish its leases. ExxonMobil had recently been fined $20 million for not drilling. The company paid the fine. To them, ir was a drop in the bucket. When my administration moved intoJuneau, we agreed with the Murkowski ream’s opinion and told ExxonMobil irs leases would be history unless we saw action. The oil giant’s MO is to tie up issues rhrough lirigarion. Ir threarened ro sue. We said, okay, we know rhe way to rhe courrhouse too. When you deal with oil executives, you have to remember rhar they are used ro winning. They also spend a lot of time in foreign counrries dealing with leaders who carty pisrols and whose bodyguards carry AK-47s. Meanwhile, the executives themselves are armed with bottomless bank accounts and highly trained platoons of fire-breathing lawyets. Thus, reminding our friends in Big Oil that they have a contract that they’re obligated to fulfill was really not going to scare them. A $20 million fine? Pocket change. But with their leases on the line-permanently-the question ExxonMobil executives finally had to ask themselves was, do we really want to give up prime parcels that are loaded with billions of dollars’ worth of natural resources that the public and our shareholders want us to develop?

As AOGCC chair, when I wasn’t butting heads with the state GOP, I was getting a thorough education in issues sutrounding

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oil and gas recovery and producrion. I also learned rhat in the energy industry, you have to send messages independently to each group: To explorers, you speak of expansion and access to get their new discoveries to market. To producers, you speak of inducements such as a stable investment climate. To pipeline owners, you speak of open seasons and shipping and tariff rates that let them recover costs. Most important, to the resource owners-in this case the people of Alaska-you speak of getting the oil safely out of the ground into our cars and homes and businesses to provide economic and security benefits. Two days after my first State of the State Address, I spoke to a group of energy explorers at an indusrry breakfast.
It
provided me with the perfect opportunity to that stage and ler our most

powerful industry know how I would lead. Among rhe messages that I wished to send: Alaska is now open for business.

“You in the industry make your living by providing the goods and services necessary to get Alaska’s resources to market,” I said.

“You live by contracts and legal obligations…. Leases and unit agreements are contracts. Lessees must develop the public’s resources or give back their leases.” ExxonMobil needed to develop now or let others compete to do so.
In
the larger scheme of things, I also knew that unless
we accessed our known reserves on state lands, it would be more
difficult to argue for access to federal lands such as ANWR. We had to prove we could do so safely and ethically before the feds would let us develop in more controversial areas.
It
all dovetailed together. As a state chief executive sitting across the table from well-heeled, lawyered-up oil executives, it was a given: you have to be committed to the position that is right for the people who hired you. You can’t blink. And we didn’t.

Once we put our foot down, we won ruling after ruling after ruling.

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May 1, 2007: Superior Courr Judge Sharon Gleason denied a morion filed by producers in rhe former Poinr Thomson Unir ro sray their appeal of our lease termination.

May 22, 2007: Judge Gleason refused the producers’ motion to separate issues on appeal and also denied their requesr that the court not give deference to DNR’s expertise.

December 26, 2007: DNR was found to have acted properly when it rejected ExxonMobil’s plan.

When you know you’ve made the right call, you stand your ground. DNR had made the right call. We would now see development. Victory! Two years into our term, Rolligons packed with drilling equipment started driving up the long ice road to Poine Thomson to deploy hundreds of new workers in their hard hats and steel-toed boots. Exxon began ordering parts and supplies and buying equipment in order to develop rich reserves for the industry, the state, and the nation. This was a bipartisan victory that created mutually beneficial relationship berween government and industry we had sought all along. In the first two years of my administration, there would be many bipartisan victories. I had a fine working relationship with state house Democrats, a fact that quite often showed up in the
press.

Inrerviewed for a scory on women in leadership, House Minority Leader Beth Kerttula, a Juneau Democrat, told
News—
week
she was impressed that I had invited others to share their opinions so we could make the most informed decision. Beth was amazed that I had invited members of her parey back to my office three times over ten hours to hammer oue a solution onAGIA.

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I got a kick out of another comment she made, abour my being Alaska’s first female chief executive: “I finally get to go to the restroom and talk business with the governot,” Beth said. “The guys have been doing this for cenruries.”

In February 2008, Anchorage Democrat Les Gara, a representative, told magazine,

that comes to Juneau and

says, I’m not going to do my party’s bidding

credit. We

had some very dark years under Frank Murkowski, and it has been nice to see somerhing different.”

The press was decent and fair concerning my working relationship with both parties my first years in office. The positive news reports slowed down drastically, though, that final year. Since the Point Thomson development was good news, the press was relarively quiet. Still, we celebrated. In early 2009, I would speak at a packed-house luncheon at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage to rhank all the players who had come together to get Point Thomson tolling. Before my talk, I met with ExxonMobii officials to shake hands and talk about our commitment to work hard and work together. This progress was such great news for all parties involved. Even some ExxonMobil officials from Australia were there for the event, and as a gift of goodwill, they presented me with a jar ofVegemite. I felt bad that I didn’t bring a jar ‘of smoked salmon to offer in return.

“Take it home and share it,” the folks from down under said of their gift. “See if your children like it.” That night, I tried Vegemite for the first time and realized ExxonMobil wasn’t trying to thank me with the gift. They were trying to kill me.

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The staff understood my agenda of fiscal conservatism and knew that ro implement it, we’d have to work as a team. Only one cabinet member voiced criticism of the agenda to slow the growrh of government, and he taught me another lesson about how difficult changing bureaucracy is when the team is divided.

A few. days before I announced my 2008 preliminary budget, Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan held his own press conference to announce his department’s funding requests, which included a budget increase. My Deputy Chief of Staff Randy Ruaro was livid.

“What ream is Monegan playing on?” Randy asked. “Because you sure can’t tell!”

Monegan was’ using an old political trick, speaking out in public to pressure his boss into accepting his entire funding wish list-which happened ro align with the wish list of the union representing some stare employees. Democrat Senator Hollis French srood beside Monegan to lend his official support. Hollis “Gunny” French-he earned the nickname from military veterans who found it unbelievable that he would list himself as a Corps private and imply one year of “milirary service” when he merely attended a weeks-long military course during college-was one of the ringleaders of the politically motivated investigation that would become known as “Troopergate.” Some union members and Democrar friends were offended when I later branded Monegan’s behavior”insubordinate.” Is rhere a better term for it? As I write this, I’m thumbing through a thesaurus … srilliooking … still looking … Nope. Seems like insubordination to me. I had the final say on the budget. It was my responsibility to make it efficient. If Mon
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