Dave - well said.  Though I didn't know you then, we were working for the same purpose.  I was working for MK-R as a 341 Laborer in section 1 with pipe gangs then dropped over Thompson Pass with the first rock drilling crew on tugger lines. I worked 147 days without a day off in 1975 and fewer than that in 1976 in camps from Sourdough to Tonsina to Sheep Creek.   I came up to establish residency in 1973 to qualify for a pipeline job.  I was the night desk clerk at the Topper's Inn on 15th and a furniture mover by day for PP Tipton down at Anchorage Bedding & Furniture on 6th & Juneau.   As you know, I have been here ever since doing what I can.  

State spending has bloated grossly over the years and cannot be properly corrected in the short term.  Oil was above $45 today and I don't support instituting new long term taxes on Alaskans as a response to short term fluctuating oil prices and state revenues.  Get lean and use the rainy day fund as Gov. Hammond intended.