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Murkowski administration to brief legislators on gas line talks, prepare for contracts
Larry Persily Petroleum News government affairs editor
The administration says it will provide updates to lawmakers as contract talks proceed under Alaska’s Stranded Gas Development Act.
At the administration’s request, legislative leaders have appointed four lawmakers to serve as “points of contact” for briefing House and Senate members as negotiations proceed for a state fiscal contract covering a possible North Slope natural gas pipeline, said Steve Porter, deputy commissioner at the Department of Revenue.
House Speaker Pete Kott and Senate President Gene Therriault each named two members from their respective chambers: Reps. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau, and Reggie Joule, D-Kotzebue; and Sens. Ben Stevens, R-Anchorage, and Gretchen Guess, D-Anchorage.
Therriault, R-North Pole, will share the job with Stevens when Stevens is not available, said Porter, who serves as the administration’s spokesman on Stranded Gas Act issues.
Negotiations under the act are confidential, as are generally all documents related to the contract talks until the two sides are ready to release a draft contract setting up a system of payments in lieu of state and municipal taxes on the proposed project. The law requires that a draft contract go out for at least 30 days of public comment before the administration can submit it to the Legislature for approval. Briefings intended to help prepare lawmakers Setting up a team of legislators early in the process will allow the administration to brief lawmakers on issues under discussion in the contract talks, with the House and Senate teams able to share the information with their colleagues, Porter said. The intent is to help prepare legislators on the issues in advance of their formal consideration of the contract, he said.
The first round of briefings for all four legislators likely will be completed by March 26, Porter said.
Gov. Frank Murkowski told lawmakers in January he hoped to have a draft contract for their consideration before the end of the legislative session in May, but the House speaker said this month sometime before the end of the year is more likely. Kott said lawmakers could return in a special session if either of the two applicants reaches a contract during the summer or fall.
Negotiations have been under way since late January with the two Stranded Gas Development Act applicants: the three major North Slope producers, and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. And although MidAmerican had said it wanted to complete its draft contract by mid-March, the company missed its self-announced target date and state negotiations continue with the Des Moines, Iowa-based pipeline and power company.
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