By Bob Shavelson

I had a teacher a while back who taught me the best way to say something unpopular was simply to  deny you were saying it. “I’m not saying you’re stupid, but you just fell for the same trick for the tenth  time.”

You get the idea.

So, when I read John Sturgeon’s recent editorial about oil taxes (“Don’t turn oil into the next timber industry, Anchorage Daily News, March 6, 2026) – and his assertion “[t]his isn’t about  defending corporations” – I could only think of one thing: Mr. Sturgeon was defending corporations. 

And of course he was. 

That’s because as our roads, schools and healthcare continue to crumble, Alaska is once again trying to  get the oil companies to pay their fair share for our oil. And whenever that happens, the oil corporations  trot out familiar names and faces to explain why these big corporations can’t afford to. 

It’s a tried and true playbook. Over the past 60 years, Alaskans have repeatedly tried to claw a fair share  of our oil wealth from the oil companies. And the message from the oil corporations is always – ALWAYS  – the same: if you tax us, we will leave. That’s all it takes. 

It’s a highly effective argument, elegant in its simplicity and brazen in its deceit. But it works because it’s  based in fear, and the oil corporations have amassed the economic and political muscle to bully and  manipulate our politicians. 

We often hear “the system is rigged,” and it most certainly is. But instead of some shadowy, faceless  “deep state,” our legal and economic systems are rigged so giant corporations can wrestle more and  more money from everyday folks, all while the people running these corporations get more disgustingly  rich. It’s not illegal. Big corporations have simply tilted the playing field so sharply to their advantage  that ordinary Alaskans and everyday Americans have no chance. It’s designed that way. 

Think I’m lying? Try bringing a claim against an oil company that digs up your land, or pollutes your  water. Think you stand a chance? Spoiler alert: you do not. How about taxes? Big oil corporations have a  deep bench of lawyers and accountants who grab every penny for profits. Sure, they sprinkle a few  donations here and there, but compared to what they pocket, it’s chump change. All the while, our  roads, schools and health care – and the Alaskan families they support – suffer. 

Hilcorp provides a great example between the real world you and I live in, and the special privileges of  the corporate class. 

Hilcorp’s founder and Chairman Jeff Hildebrand is worth $10 billion dollars. He has a stable of fancy polo  ponies in Houston and flies on private jets to hobnob with other billionaires at polo games in Aspen and  Miami. In the wake of some large political donations, Mr. Hildebrand’s wife got an ambassadorship to  Costa Rica. Her prior experience included running a donut shop. And over the past decade Hilcorp has  amassed millions in worker safety and air quality fines, but it’s so rich, it just absorbs these violations as  business costs and continues on. Even after several workers were killed at Hilcorp facilities, no one went  to jail, they just got a slap on the wrist.  

The world doesn’t work that way for you or me. I’m a father of two teenagers. Our health insurance  costs are through the roof, our schools are closing, and our food, utility and gas prices keep going up. All  we see is the corporate class gobbling up more of the pie while everyone else scrambles for the scraps. 

Alaska is a resource rich state, and we Alaskans own our oil. Our budget is in shambles and our schools,  roads and healthcare are broken. But our politicians keep kneeling in fear to these big oil corporations.  “If you tax us, we will leave.” 

Maybe the oil corporations want us to think they can have a better go of it in Venezuela. Or the Middle  East. Or China. Or Russian. 

But I doubt it. Last week, oil companies bid a record $164 million on oil and gas leases in Alaska. It  sounds like they like the safety and the predictability of doing business here. 

So, maybe it’s time we got a fair share of our oil wealth. Because I’m not saying we’ve been lied to, but … .

Bob Shavelson has been engaged in oil and gas issues in Alaska for the past 30 years. He runs water taxis  and lives in Homer with his family.