Blog: Capital Focus
Palin calls special session on pipeline
Published Friday, March 28, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin announced this morning she will hold a special legislative session in Juneau starting on June 3 to deal with the natural gas pipeline.
Palin also announced that her administration will present its decision on the TransCanada pipeline proposal to lawmakers the week of May 19. If the administration decides to go ahead with the TransCanada plan, the announcement in May will begin the 60-day review period allowed to lawmakers under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
“Our plan is to complete the findings by the week of May 19, allow legislators time to read and absorb the materials, provide public gasline team briefings in Anchorage, and then move to special session in Juneau where they have requested to meet,” Palin said in a news release.
The proclamation calling the special session covers “any action” taken by the administration under AGIA, although it’s unclear what lawmakers would consider if the administration chose not to forward the TransCanada application.
In the news release, Palin noted that calling a special session did not indicate that her administration had already made a decision on TransCanada’s application.
“The gasline team faces a truly monumental effort in comprehensively analyzing TransCanada’s application, considering the public comments received and reviewing the all-Alaska LNG options for comparison purposes,” Palin said in the release.
The Canadian pipeline company’s application was the only one of the five submitted under AGIA that was deemed complete by the administration.
Somehow the pipeline project seems be slipping completely out of control.
The AGIA was intended to open and transparent. The transparency and openness don’t seem to apply to discussions of future gas taxes.
The All Alaska LNG option got the squashed like a bug. I’m still not clear on why a short gas line to an Alaska LNG port is more expensive than a long gas line to the Alberta Tar Sand field.
The Canadians want up to 25% rate of return. Fairbanks is getting desperate for energy.
Lots of folks feeling aliened and shortchanged by the whole process. With the North Slope producers sidelined – who gets the credit for all this?
I’m taking a poll, check it out:
http://alaska-gas-pipeline.blogspot.com/......
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