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A few hours before today’s gas line hearings, Interior lawmakers gathered in the Capitol to take on another big issue -- the energy crisis that threatens to cripple the region’s economy.

The mayors of Fairbanks, North Pole, and the Fairbanks borough called the meeting and traveled to Juneau for it.

Interior residents are paying four times as much to heat their homes as they were five years ago, they told lawmakers, and young people are talking about leaving Alaska. Real income has plummeted, and mainstays of the economy like Eielson Air Force Base and the Flint Hills refinery are at serious risk of shutting down.

There wasn’t much debate over the urgency, so talk turned to solutions and strategy.

Which big energy projects could help? Who would be an ally in funding those projects? And how can Fairbanks lawmakers convince others that Anchorage gets a big subsidy no one else gets?

Borough mayor Jim Whitaker took a stab at the last one with a recent letter to Gov. Sarah Palin arguing that state regulation of Cook Inlet gas probably violated the Alaska Constitution.

Restrictions on exporting Cook Inlet gas result in price and supply restrictions that effectively subsidize natural gas for the Southcentral area, Whitaker said this morning.

I don’t want to sue, but will if I have to, he said.

Don’t sue, lawmakers told him.

A victory could simply mean higher gas prices in Southcentral and the Interior, they said, and suing certainly wouldn’t make any friends in the Legislature.

What about subsidizing North Slope crude for the Fairbanks area?

Could that really work? asked Sen. Therriault, who noted the state would have to regulate the refinery price, wholesale price, and distribution price all at once.

Probably not, said Whitaker.

And even if it could work, lawmakers probably wouldn’t support it, said Rep. Kelly.

“People down here are not going to vote to Chavez it,” he said, referring to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

Maybe the best idea is to convince others there is a subsidy, they agreed, and try to get some money for energy projects around the state that don’t use oil or gas.

The synthetic fuels project already being studied in Fairbanks seems to make the most sense, said Whitaker.

All three mayors offered their support for a proposal to commit $21 billion to renewable and alternative energy projects over the next five years.

Lawmakers talked about other projects, like a small-scale, in-state natural gas pipeline, or a giant hydroelectric project on the Susitna River, and how they might all fit together.

OK, but what about this winter? asked North Pole mayor Doug Isaacson. “Our constituents are crying for help.”

There is Palin’s plan to give everyone $1,200, lawmakers noted, some offering a tentative backing. But that doesn’t fix the long-term problem, they said, and it’s going to be hard to take away.

And it’s not fair, suggested Rep. Guttenberg.

“Everybody in Anchorage -- everybody -- gets a flat-screen TV,” he said. “We just get to stay warm. Where’s the equity in that?”

Guttenberg handed out a sheet showing how the checks would look if they took into account the price of heating fuel and the severity of the climate. People in Fairbanks would get about $1,800 each. Residents in the Yukon-Koyukuk region would get $2,738, and people in Anchorage would get $474.

“This is how you distribute funds in the state,” he said later.

For now, lawmakers are debating the TransCanada proposal. But soon enough, they’ll turn to the issue many lawmakers say their constituents care more about -- energy.

Expect a battle just as large and nearly as complex.