Bingaman supports ANS gasline

Steve Sutherlin

Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Jeff Bingaman would not oppose the export of North Slope natural gas, Bill Wicker, the Senator’s communications director told PNA Sept. 26.

“It's not our gas; we’re not going to tell the owners who they can sell it to,” Wicker said, adding that the senator would not want a ban on exports because the restrictions might discourage potential investors in the line. Bingaman believes the gas line is important, and has placed the gas line on the list of measures to increase supply in his proposed Comprehensive and Balanced Energy Policy Act of 2001 and the Energy Security Tax and Policy Act of 2001. His proposal calls for “an incentive to expedite construction of a pipeline to bring natural gas stranded on the North Slope of Alaska (not the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) to the Lower 48 states.”

“We’ve been clear and on record that the gas line needs to be built to the Lower 48,” Wicker said. “We would encourage a clean and stable energy supply.”

Sen. Bingaman is route neutral and amenable to either an overland or tidewater route, provided any project built will deliver gas to the continental United States.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Sen. Frank Murkowski is a ranking member, will hold a hearing to discuss the proposed Alaska natural gas delivery system on Oct. 2 at 9:30 a.m. in Washington.