|
Bill would prohibit leasing for over-the-top gas pipeline route Legislators also asking Department of Revenue to provide report on state participation options for gasline project Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
The Alaska Legislature is not just making its views on a gasline route known — it is making them legally binding. A bill prohibiting the Department of Natural Resources from issuing leases across state land “in or adjacent to the Beaufort Sea for pipeline right-of-way purposes to authorize construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline following a ‘northern’ or ‘over-the-top’ route” passed the Senate April 2 and was on its way to passage in the House April 16.
Senate passage had been a foregone conclusion, since all 20 members of that body were sponsors; a similar bill had been introduced in the House in January but did not move out of the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas.
The North American Gas Pipeline Group (BP, ExxonMobil, Phillips) testified in opposition to the bill in both the Senate and the House, telling legislators that fiduciary responsibility to stockholders and application requirements for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required them to look at alternative routes for taking gas to market. Legislative concerns are expressed in the bill: making gas available for in-state use and providing job opportunities for Alaskans.
House concurrent resolution 8, opposing the over-the-top route, and providing for distribution of the resolution to state and federal officials, passed the House April 9 and had its first reading in the Senate April 10.
Sponsor substitute for House Bill 190, sponsored by representatives Whitaker, Croft and Kerttula, was introduced March 22 and referred to Oil and Gas. This bill would levy a tax on North Slope natural gas in place if requirements for sale and delivery are not met and also provides that commitments to sell gas be written into oil and gas leases when they are extended by production or by having a certified well capable of production. Revenue to look at state participation Other bills related to a gasline project are also moving, including a committee substitute for Senate Bill 158, sponsored by Senate Resources, “directing the commissioner of revenue to prepare a report to the legislature relating to the state’s participation in owning or financing a gas pipeline project” by Jan. 31, 2002.
That bill passed the Senate April 9 and was referred to House Oil and Gas April 10.
The commissioner is to consider whether the state should participate by taking an equity position in a gas pipeline project; whether the state should participate in project financing; how such participation would effect the state’s cash flow and ability to pay for essential public service; or whether the state might participate by creating a private corporation in which Alaska residents could buy shares.
Senate Bill 143, authorizing DNR to make agreements with those proposing oil or natural gas pipelines to pay reasonable costs for state work prior to applications being filed passed the Senate April 2 and was moving through House committees at mid-month. DNR can already charge costs for application work, but found itself providing assistance in the pre-application process for which it needed to recover costs.
General pipeline legislation is also moving.
Senate Bill 76, extending renewal periods for existing pipelines from 10 years to 30 years, has been passed by both the Senate and the House and was awaiting transmittal to the governor at mid-month. This amendment to the Alaska Right-of-Way Leasing Act aligns Alaska’s renewal process for the trans-Alaska pipeline system with the federal process.
A committee substitute for Senate Bill 121, defining ‘substantial change’ in the context of amendments to right-of-way lease applications, passed the Senate April 10 and was in House Oil and Gas at mid-month.
| 