Wrangell Sentinel -

Alaska officials who say the stars are aligned for the long-dreamt, long-on-the-odds multibillion-dollar North Slope natural gas project are confusing shiny stars with black holes.

Like the black hole the state already has poured close to a billion dollars into over the past two decades, thinking that international markets would like expensive Alaska gas better than lower-risk, less costly gas from anywhere else.

But unlike black holes, where the force of gravity is so strong that nothing escapes, the Alaska gas line dream continues to survive another day or another decade.

The latest straw...