Jim Whitaker, mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough and a board member of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, is supporting Gov. Sarah Palin’s approach to building a natural gas pipeline and her decision to back Canadian pipeline builder TransCanada Corp.
The port authority submitted its own pipeline proposal last year and formally protested when the Palin administration rejected its application as incomplete and accepted TransCanada’s.
Since then, the group has continued to pursue its own project, which involves a pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez and liquefied natural gas tankers.
Whitaker said June 10 that the administration, under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act of 2007, made a “worthy effort” to move a pipeline project ahead and the process needs to continue.
Not all port authority officials concur
Other port authority officials were less willing to get behind their former competitor.
Project manager Bill Walker said the port authority is deciding how to pursue its mission in the context of AGIA and is not ready to give up.
“What we’re saying is our goal isn’t to stop a TransCanada project or to stop the AGIA process,” he said in Juneau. “Our goal is to continue to work on first available gas to Alaskans at the most economic price.”
Board chairman Bert Cottle was openly critical of the Canadian pipeline builder.
“TransCanada’s proposal does not take care of Alaska’s needs,” he said.
Cottle, mayor of Valdez, said the AGIA license would allow too much time for delay.
Whitaker said his position did not differ much from other port authority members.
Earlier in June, Whitaker hinted he would back TransCanada’s proposal. The port authority has not fared well under the AGIA process or under the Stranded Gas Development Act used by former Gov. Frank Murkowski, he said at a meeting.
“Some of us think that our noses can only take so many punches, and mine’s just about punched out,” he said. “I’ve got to look at the broader and bigger picture.”
The port authority will make a presentation Thursday, June 12 (as this edition of Petroleum News goes to press) to lawmakers during hearings in Fairbanks.
Expert says LNG project not competitive
In the second week of June, Lawmakers heard experts hired to comment on the economics and feasibility of liquefied natural gas projects.
Scott Smith of Black & Veatch, which is doing research for the Palin administration, presented findings that an LNG project would cost billions more to build than a pipeline running into Canada and would result in shipping costs that were twice as high, reducing overall revenue for gas producers and the state.
The findings conflict with estimates generated by the port authority, which has argued that a medium-sized LNG project could be completed sooner than a pipeline into Canada and could be more profitable for the state.
