A bid by Alaska senators to block an undersea gasline link from the North Slope to the Mackenzie Delta is inconsistent with free trade and a continental energy policy, said Northwest Territories Premier Stephen Kakfwi.

He said the bill by the 19 senators to prohibit construction of a Beaufort Sea link would prevent North Slope and Delta producers from making their own decisions on the best way to deliver gas to Lower 48 markets.

Speaking to a natural gas conference in Houston, Kakfwi said the bill would also undermine President George W. Bush's campaign for a North American energy policy to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

"A continental energy policy, developed to ensure a secure supply of reasonably priced energy to North America, is not compatible with parochial interests," he said.

"Whatever happened to free enterprise? The Americans are supposed to be the champions of free enterprise, yet they are wiping out options for major gas producers."

Kakfwi said that despite an agreement he reached with Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles and Yukon Premier Pat Duncan in Calgary last month to keep each other posted on developments in the Arctic gas debate, the Alaska legislation "came completely out of the blue."

Knowles and Duncan are also scheduled to speak at the Houston conference, but an NWT government spokesman said there have been no plans for the three to meet.