Natural gas authority counts LNG votes

Board members remind governor, legislators of public support for project

Larry Persily

Petroleum News Government Affairs Editor

As it pursues additional state funding to build a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas project, the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority figures it’s good to remind the governor and legislators of how many Alaskans voted for the venture in 2002.

And to help board members as they talk with lawmakers about the authority’s need for more money, Harold Heinze, chief executive officer of the gas authority, has passed out a list showing the 2002 vote totals in all 60 House and Senate districts.

It’s good to remind legislators how well the ballot initiative did in their own districts, Heinze said.

Alaskans by a 2-to-1 margin approved the citizens initiative creating the gas authority, which is supposed to present a project plan to the Legislature by June 2004 for the state to build, own and operate a gas pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez, where the gas would be liquefied and shipped to anyone who might want to buy it.

“I think Ballot Measure 3 beat almost every legislator,” said David Cuddy, one of seven men Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed to the gas authority last year.

Heinze passed out the list at the board’s Jan. 12 meeting in Anchorage. Board member and initiative sponsor Scott Heyworth compiled the list.

Heyworth has been critical of what he believes is the state wasting its time waiting for the three major North Slope producers to build their preferred gas pipeline from the slope, through Canada to mid-America markets, while he sees an LNG project at Valdez as Alaska’s best hope to get its gas to market.

He sent a note Jan. 11 to Heinze and others on his email list, informing them of a recent opinion poll — paid for by the Alaska Democratic Party — that showed Alaskans continue to support the LNG project over a pipeline to the Lower 48 by a 2-to-1 margin.

“Our numbers are holding, easily!” Heyworth said in his email. “Frank is cooked meat on this one.”

Heyworth acknowledged his email refers to Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski.

“If the governor is going against the will of the people, it’s not a good sign,” he said of Murkowski’s continued encouragement of a producer-led pipeline project instead of coming out solidly in support of a state-owned LNG project.

“Gee Frank, don’t you get it,” Heyworth said.

The governor has generally said he supports any project that could bring Alaska gas to market and millions of dollars a year in taxes and royalties to the state treasury, though he has concentrated on the proposed gas pipeline to mid-America. Heyworth had filed as a candidate for lieutenant governor in the 2002 Democratic primary but withdrew in support of Murkowski’s Republican gubernatorial candidacy.

The gas authority has gone through all of the $350,000 in state funds it was given for this year, and is asking for an additional $2.15 million from the Legislature for the balance of the fiscal year that ends June 30. Heinze has said the authority could need $200 million more for next year, if the board and the Legislature decide to proceed with designing the pipeline, liquefaction plant and tanker terminal.

The initiative placed before voters in November 2002 did not include any estimates of how much state money would be needed to plan and design the project.

Heyworth said he put together the list of district vote totals to show lawmakers the strength of constituent support for the project. “I’m kind of a numbers guy. It just fascinates me. I see trends in it.” The vote totals show the initiative’s strongest support was in Fairbanks, along the pipeline route, in Valdez and the Matanuska Valley. It did not lose in any of the state’s 40 House districts, but came closest in downtown Juneau, downtown Anchorage, the upscale Hillside area of Anchorage and the North Slope and Northwest Arctic district.

Heyworth praised Senate President Gene Therriault for the North Pole Republican’s support for the additional $2.15 million this legislative session for the gas authority. More than 70 percent of voters in Therriault’s district — which stretches from just outside the city of Fairbanks to Valdez — cast ballots for the initiative.

“I think he’s savvy and knows those numbers mean something in that district,” Heyworth said.