Lawmakers weigh Alaska gov’s gas pipeline plan
June 3, 2008
CNNMoney: Alaska Legislature to begin special legislative session on governor’s gas pipeline proposal
The clock starts ticking for Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday. She’ll have 60 days to convince the Legislature that TransCanada Corp. deserves a license to build a pipeline that would ship North Slope natural gas to power homes and businesses in U.S. markets. Read more
Pipe Dreams
June 2, 2008
Newsweek:
by Tony Hopfinger - Alaska is home to gigantic untapped natural-gas fields. But can the state and energy industry finally agree to build a pipeline to transport the fuel?
As Americans feel the pinch at the gas pump amid $128 a barrel oil, there’s at least one place in the United States where high energy prices aren’t all bad news. Alaska, home to America’s prolific oil fields, is reaping billions of dollars in record oil-tax revenue. That, along with a populist governor determined to deliver a megapipeline project to the state, is fueling optimism among Alaskans that an energy boom may be just around the corner.
The next boom might not come from oil, however. In fact, residents aren’t putting much stock in the renewed effort under way to allow oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeast Alaska, often cited as America’s best chance for a major onshore oil discovery but deemed sacred ground by environmentalists.
State will sue over polar bear listing
May 22, 2008
Newsminer:
The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday. She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state’s northern and northwestern coasts. Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said.
Alaska rejects Exxon Mobil’s natural gas proposal
April 22, 2008
Chron.com:
Alaska rejected Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $1.3 billion plan to pump natural gas from a North Slope field that holds enough to meet U.S. residential demand for the fuel for almost two years. Read more
TransCanada announcement in May
March 28, 2008
KTUU:
The Legislature will convene in special session June 3 to consider the future of the natural gas pipeline.
Gov. Palin said her administration will release its findings on the sole gas line applicant, TransCanada, during the week of May 19.
Once the administration releases its findings on TransCanada, the law says the Legislature has 60 days to approve the gas license, if that’s what the administration recommends.
So it could be mid-summer before the selection process in the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act has played out.
