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Gas bill passes House, stalls in Senate
House Bill 9, which would move along work on an in-state gas pipeline from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska, passed the House 27-12 in the early morning hours March 28.
The bill had numerous hearings in House Resources and House Finance, but appeared dead on arrival in the Senate where it was assigned to three committees, Community and Regional Affairs, Resources and Finance. Hearings had not yet been scheduled when Petroleum News went to press March 29.
Senate President Gary Stevens said March 27 at a Senate Bipartisan Working Group press availability that he didn’t know if the bill was a must pass for the Senate and said it was premature to comment on the pros and cons of a small-diameter gas pipeline from the North Slope as the Senate had not yet received the bill.
Sen. Joe Paskvan, D-Fairbanks, co-chair of Senate Resources said he thought there was a lot of merit to a line north from Big Lake to the Interior.
Bill as extensive provisions House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, along with Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, the main sponsor of the bill, said after passage March 28 that: “Getting gas to Alaskans to power their homes and businesses has been a dream of generations of Alaskans, and the House took a big step toward finally making that dream a reality tonight.”
“HB 9 empowers the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation to pursue an economically viable bullet line, or align the state’s interests under the umbrella of AGIA to develop a larger project,” said Hawker.
HB 9 combines several bills which passed the House in 2011 and are in the Senate, including a bill which establishes a fund to receive $200 million appropriated in 2011 for work toward an open season; a bill which limits challenges to right-of-way leasing decisions similar to protections extended to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline; and a bill which allows AGDC to enter into confidentiality agreements.
HB 9 also gives AGDC the ability to determine pipeline ownership and operating structure; requires AGDC to work on the in-state gas line project described in the corporation’s July 2011 project plan; removes language limiting an in-state line’s scope to taking North Slope gas to tidewater; makes the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. the board for AGDC and brings the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority under the AHFC board; and allows AGDC to operate a pipeline as a contract carrier.
—Kristen Nelson
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