An opinion piece in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Friday October 25th, 2015) asked an important question regarding Governor Walker’s recent decision to allow “discretionary spending” to be used by AIDEA to begin the EIS process: Why spend money we don’t have?

“In the specifics of that Dec. 26 directive, the governor orders agency leaders to “cease all discretionary spending,” “not incur new or additional expenses or obligations,” and “not spend any unencumbered or unobligated funds that have been appropriated to the agency by the Legislature” for all of the six projects.

And he had these words in a news release announcing his order: “These are large projects that require significantly more state investment to complete,” he said. “This is a way for us to not commit new money into projects that may not be continued during this fiscally challenging time.”…

The governor said on Wednesday that his team had “clarified” what discretionary spending means for the Ambler Road project. He noted the $3.6 million “had already been appropriated, so this clarification allows the project to progress to a natural stopping point instead of stalled mid-step.” The fact the money already had been appropriated by the Legislature, however, would seem to make the money subject to the governor’s December 2014 order, which applies to money already appropriated.” Read more about the question of funding the EIS, and whether in fact releasing the $3.6 million is truly a “natural stopping point” as the governor has claimed, or whether it is restarting the project –  by clicking on the link: Why spend on the Ambler project?