State's fiscal mess is not a surprise

State's fiscal mess is not a surprise

North Slope oil production has been in steady decline since 1988. The trans-Alaska oil pipeline is more than three-quarters empty. It’s no one’s fault, that’s just how oil reservoirs behave. They are not some kind of eternal spring that replenishes itself. Even as companies work hard to find new oil fields and increase production from the older reservoirs, it’s not enough to permanently reverse th...