What happens when the oil runs out? (mineral rights, sales)

[TxinRearvyew]

Are there plans or contingencies for that... 50 or 100 years from now? Will the cities still exist as they do now?

[cashcarry]

They have spare fuel i believe

[AKStafford]

When the oil runs out we are screwed. We've driven out the timber industry, completely blocked the mining industry and turned the fishing industry over to out of state companies.
There will be some tourism, a few government jobs and the military bases.

[Alaskan Mutt]

Once oil revenues decline to the point where the state is spending more than it takes in, the residents are going to have to decide if they will let the Permanent Fund be raided or if they going to go with an income tax, sales tax, or both. Alaska will go from a very tax friendly state to a very tax unfriendly state.

I think many people believe building a natural gas pipeline will be their savior. I do not think so. If there was demand for Alaska's natural gas, the pipeline would have been built years ago. I believe there will be a substancial decrease in spending by the federal governmnt. Given the high cost of doing business new industries large enough to have an impact are not lining up to move to Alaska.

[Metlakatla]

LOL. The fishing industry was never Alaska's to "turn over" to "outside companies." The North Pacific commercial fishing industry isn't state-specific and never has been. Alaska wouldn't even have a "fishing industry" if it weren't for Seattle.

The timber industry never really employed a significant number of Alaskans. The people who lost jobs when the Asian timber market went bust were primary from out of state....

As far as mining, most of the mineral rights in AK are owned by foreign interests.

[jambo101]

Alaska like all the other states are totally dependent on oil for their survival, knowing that the practice of burning fossil fuels is unsustainable meaning ultimately its going to run out we have the luxury of having some time to prepare for that eventuality by getting into alternate sources of energy in a big way also a major effort in conservation to belay the inevitable dry oil wells, waiting till the wells run dry to do anything is a poor plan of action.

A good article on the consequences of running out of oil if unprepared
http://realtruth.org/articles/081203-007-analysis.html


Theres another theory that very conveniently has been debunked.
http://www.viewzone.com/abioticoil.html

[Alaskan Mutt]

Originally Posted by jambo101

Alaska like all the other states are totally dependent on oil for their survival, knowing that the practice of burning fossil fuels is unsustainable meaning ultimately its going to run out we have the luxury of having some time to prepare for that eventuality by getting into alternate sources of energy in a big way also a major effort in conservation to belay the inevitable dry oil wells, waiting till the wells run dry to do anything is a poor plan of action.

Alaska has natural gas, coal, hydro, and wind resources to keep the state in power for a long time. However, it will come nowhere close to funding the state government. Given the high cost of getting it from Alaska to other places there will not be enough outside demand to do any good.

Several years ago when oil production started to decline and oil prices declined the state went into panic mode. All sorts of cuts were planned. Then the price of oil soared and Alaska went right back to it's old ways.

I believe there will be a large loss of high paying jobs over the next few years. This is going to drive the cost per person to fund the state so high that large masses of people are going to leave. This will drive the per person cost even higher. There will not be a federal government bail-out as people in other states are facing the same problems. Alaska's future is bleak.

[sentry12]

it won't run out. its a commodity so when it gets close to running out, the prices will be astronomical hence demand will pretty much slow to snails pace.. only the rich will be able to afford it.

[jambo101]

Its an easy exercise in imagination to think of what life would be like if upon waking up tomorrow it was discovered that the oil has finally run out.

[jdhpa]

There will always be an energy source. If it isn't oil it will be something else, but the share of the economy that goes into producing / delivering energy could go up.