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Governor wants to expand gas authority Authority was established to build a gasline to Valdez, market LNG; Murkowski wants Alaska Highway natural gas pipeline as option Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski has sent a bill to the Legislature that would amend the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority Act to expand the scope of projects that the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority may consider. The authority was established by referendum in the November 2002 general election to build a gas pipeline to Valdez and market liquefied natural gas.
In an April 17 transmittal letter for House Bill 279 (Senate Bill 193), the governor said that under current law, the authority is required to develop a project plan within a year “for a gas transmission pipeline running from the North Slope to tidewater at a point on Prince William Sound.”
The governor said other projects may be “economically viable to bring Alaska gas to market” and the state’s “approach to considering these potential projects should be consistent.” The authority is “an appropriate vehicle to consider and plan for all economically viable projects” to take gas from the North Slope by routes that parallel the trans-Alaska oil pipeline or the Alaska Highway.
A spur line to the Southcentral gas distribution grid remains in the act, although the requirement that it begin at Glennallen is removed. And the board of directors of the authority is required to produce a work plan — rather than a development plan — by Jan. 1, 2004, rather than one year after its first meeting. Details of the work plan are also specified.
A fiscal note from the Department of Revenue says the general fund budget request for fiscal year 2004 of $150,000 would cover salary for an executive director, travel for the director and the board of directors and contractual expenses for the authority to complete its work assignment in six months. Heyworth responds Scott Heyworth, sponsor of the ballot proposal for the all-Alaska route, said in an April 24 statement that the governor’s amendments are “very good news for Alaska as we would own a big percentage of both the highway route and the all-Alaska route with this amendment.” With state ownership, he said, Alaska will benefit from natural gas development and development of an in-state petrochemical industry will be ensured.
Wally Hickel’s concept of the owner state is now becoming a reality, Heyworth said.
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