Anchorage, Fairbanks ADR workshops set

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has set dates for two alternative dispute resolution workshops, one in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. The commission voted Nov. 9 to open a docket, hold public workshops and take comments on whether it should adopt regulations allowing for formal dispute resolution alternatives.

The commission said Nov. 22 that it will have Federal Energy Regulatory Commission representatives available at the workshops, along with commission staff, to assist in analyzing dispute resolution alternatives.

The commission said participants in the workshops should discuss:

• Whether the commission should use alternatives for dispute resolution of regulatory matters;

• If so, what type of alternatives the commission should consider;

• How the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms should be incorporated into the commission’s current adjudicatory process; and

• Whether and to what extent the commission should use the approach to alternative dispute resolution followed by FERC as a basis for these regulations.

The Anchorage workshop will begin at 9 a.m. Feb. 15, 2006, in the commission’s Anchorage offices and continue if necessary through Feb. 16. A follow-up workshop will be held in Fairbanks May 17 and continue to May 18 if necessary. The commission said it would set the location of the Fairbanks workshop in a future order.

—Petroleum News