Marc Langland

Keep the oil industry strong, restructure the Permanent Fund, cut state spending, reduce the dividend and levy taxes, if necessary. And tell Alaska lawmakers to act this session.

OPINION: Alaska should resist temptation to raise taxes on oil industry; short-term gain wouldn't be worth long-term loss.

OPINION: It is equitable to have the producers take the risk of losing the preconstruction costs in exchange for fiscal certainty and the state taking its gas in kind because they control the decision of whether or not to construct the gas line.

There's been much ado recently about how a change in oil taxes might impact the state's credit rating. The bottom line is these stories ("Analyst says state's bond rating could be at risk if oil tax cut," ADN, Sept. 29) and accompanying political pronouncements are overly simplistic, disingenuous and ignore reality.