In this old Alaskan`s eyes, this is a serious defeat for r party and industry efforts to extort this state of it`s fair fiscal value. These folks in Juneau managed to gerrymander themselves back into a "majority", if you want to call it that. I prefer to call it the results of corporate lobbying. My evidence? http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/102807/let_20071028011.shtml Mr Huggins is making a big mistake claiming a "mandate" to shove two billion a YEAR across the table to an industry already making record profits in Alaska, with nothing coming back across the table in return for that investment. If they needed more profit to justify investment here, there is a statutory way to demonstrate that to the state, and have DIRECT royalty cuts, which would produce the same results (increase their record profits even more). The companies won`t do that because the lies would be exposed,..as they would have to open their books to state auditors, and thereby, the people of Alaska who own the oil and gas. They don`t want that above all else. I`m glad Mr. French and a few more are in Juneau again, to at least seek to have the debate in the open light of day, and not dictated from secret offices in Houston, with little or no hard numbers available for Alaskans to vet outrageous claims about TAPS shutting down, them pulling up stakes and going to Africa. Ain`t going to happen. We have the rocks, like Ed Duncan said,..and nobody is shooting at you here. This isn`t about r`s or d`s folks. It`s about corporate power and influence to increase it`s bottom line. Nothing else. Another historic raid on Alaska`s resources, with no intent to leave much behind when they are done sucking the easy oil out of Alaska.