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State extends AGIA deadline to Nov. 30
The deadline for applications under Gov. Sarah Palin’s Alaska Gasline Inducement Act has been extended to Nov. 30.
The original deadline under the request for applications was Oct. 1.
The governor and Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin addressed the deadline issue at an Aug. 3 press conference on a special session of the Legislature which will look at issues around the state’s petroleum profits tax.
Galvin said the administration had “received information through the comment process that was set up in AGIA that some of the applicants are asking for more time and we’re looking at that.”
Palin said independent companies are asking for “a little bit more time. … And it’s definitely in the state’s best interest — the more applications the better,” she said.
An Aug. 7 statement on the state’s AGIA Web site (www.gov.state.ak.us/agia/) says the commissioners of Natural Resources and Revenue have issued a revised request for AGIA applications. The extension to Nov. 30 “responds to requests from several prospective participants for more time to prepare applications,” the statement says, while still allowing the commissioners “to analyze the applications, take comments from the public and deliver their notice of intent to award and findings to the Legislature during the regular session.”
The administration’s goal has been to award a license under AGIA so that field work can begin in the summer of 2008.
The statement also said the RFA has been “modified to respond to several issues” identified by comments on the RFA Web site.
State has made ‘significant’ outreach effort Representatives of the state’s gas line team made a “significant effort” to reach out to prospective applicants after the passage of AGIA, the state said. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who participated in the outreach efforts, said in the Aug. 7 statement that the team “generated interest amongst potential new participants and it is in the state’s interest to make reasonable accommodations to secure maximum participation.”
The RFA Web site contains at least three requests for an extension of the deadline for applications.
One such request for an extension of the deadline reads: “The RFA sets out a comprehensive list of information requirements with respect to the technical, commercial, financial, regulatory and other aspects associated with a proposal. This prospective applicant believes that in order to assure the submission (of) a complete and responsive bid of high quality that addresses fully all the information requirements in the RFA, the bid submission deadline should be extended by a minimum of 30 days to November 2007.”
All inquiries and comments on the RFA Web site are anonymous.
The RFA Web site is at: www.rfainquiries.com/.
The state said the RFA was also modified to respond to several issues identified through the RFA inquiries Web site.
The state has also issued proposed changes to Department of Revenue regulations to provide for administration of the natural gas pipeline project construction inducement. The regulations are available on Revenue’s Web site at www.revenue.state.ak.us.
Comments on the proposed regulations are due by Sept. 7.
—Kristen Nelson
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