“Just Transition?” Just Stop!

April 20, 2020

Today has been a Monday.

With oil now trading at sub-zero prices, thousands of Alaskan jobs continue to be put at risk, as the global economic supply and demand curves intersect at never-before-seen price equilibrium.

The eco-extremists who have been calling for a “just transition” away from fossil fuels are probably having socially distant, virtual high-five parties today.  After all, their world with seemingly unlimited oil supply and comparatively negligible demand has come.

But at what cost?  Alaska, are you excited about being the guinea pigs for these eco-fanatics?  Isn’t our real-life lab exceptionally fun right now?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had one of her most tone-deaf – yet apropos for the eco-left – tweets today.  What do you think, Alaska?  Does she speak for you?

There isn’t a way to travel long distances within our state without combustion engines currently.  Do you eventually want to leave The Great Land and visit friends or family in the Lower 48?  Electric vehicles won’t hold a charge long enough to travel the Alcan (assuming you can get in and out of the US/Canada closed borders), and there aren’t electric planes, trains or teleporters to take you from here to there.  Therefore, post-COVID, Alaskans will still need to count on airplanes and gas/diesel-powered transport to travel.  That’s not in the “just transition” playbook.

If you are one of the tens of thousands who have had your jobs impacted by COVID or the resource crash over the past two months, you won’t have green technology or energy jobs to apply for if you want to stay in Alaska.  There isn’t a vibrant, growing “green” employment sector here, and given the eco-left’s battle against mining in the state, good luck having enough copper, gold, rare earths and other extraction jobs available anytime in the near future.  That’s not in the master “just transition” plan, even though all of those materials are needed for a “green” transformation to occur.

So, you can’t travel under the “just transition” model the radicalized environmental movement has championed, and you don’t have job opportunities available in our state. 

Seems as though a “just transition” revolution would have those details taken care of, before calling for far-reaching, extreme changes.