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Cross-border legislators launch promotion of highway pipeline International committee to pursue “timely” construction, but Torgerson cautions that growing gas reserves and economic slowdown make start-up unlikely before 2011 Gary Park PNA Canadian Correspondent
A bilateral committee of legislators from Alaska and three Canadian jurisdictions has pledged itself to achieving a “timely” delivery of gas through an Alaska Highway pipeline, while being cautioned to lower its sights on a start-up date.
The committee, holding its first meeting in Whitehorse Dec. 8, set its mission as expediting gas shipments in a way that will maximize benefits for Alaska, the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta.
Yukon Economic Development Minister Scott Kent said one of the primary goals will be to encourage decision-makers in all four legislatures to begin work on the highway project.
But Alaska Sen. John Torgerson, in an interview with the Whitehorse Star prior to the meeting, said he doubts a pipeline will be operational before 2011 — three to four years behind the usual forecasts — and could even be delayed until 2013.
He said the current economic slowdown has allowed a build up of gas reserves because of conservation and the decline in demand, especially for gas-fired electrical generation by industrial users.
Torgerson pointed out that gas producers who normally like to have seven to eight years of supply, now have reserves stretching out over 11 years.
In addition, the volumes from 17,000 gas wells drilled in the past year have yet to be factored in, further reducing the urgency of an Alaska Highway pipeline.
However, Torgerson said there is no reason to expect a repetition of the late 1970s when the original highway project was shelved.
He predicted in the interview that the Alaska producers, who are expected to release the findings of their feasibility study in the first quarter of 2002, will report that a pipeline is not economical without tax and other revenue support from the federal, state and territorial governments.
Energy bill would remove commitments Torgerson said a new Democrat-sponsored energy bill before the U.S. Senate proposes to take away significant commitments made to the state of Alaska and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. when the highway corridor was entrenched in international agreements in the 1970s.
Under the proposed bill, Alaska’s communities could lose the guarantees of community access to the gas line that they currently have if the producers were given the right to build their own pipeline.
The implications for Foothills alone could result in years of legal action, which would be the last thing the project needed, Torgerson said.
Along with Torgerson and Kent, the international committee includes Mark Hlady, a member of the Alberta legislature and chair of the Alberta legislature’s standing policy committee on energy and sustainable development. British Columbia has yet to appoint a representative.
Torgerson told the inaugural meeting that the committee must strive to coordinate measures to maximize jobs and business opportunities along the pipeline route.
Hlady, echoing the Alberta government’s insistence of making gas liquids available to the province’s petrochemical industry, said that ensuring access to both the gas and the liquids by all communities, industries and hubs could be an important function of the committee.
The committee will finalize its goals after discussions with British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, agreeing that two pipelines — the highway project and a stand-alone Mackenzie Valley project — will eventually be constructed.
The committee said it will explore the possibility of hosting a conference and trade show in Calgary next year, with a focus on regulatory matters and business opportunities.
The next meeting will be held in British Columbia in January.
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