• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Push for All-Alaska Gas Line Continues

Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 03:00 CDT

Former Gov. Walter J. Hickel says that an all-Alaska natural gas line is worth fighting for - to allow Alaskans access to their own resources - and the fight has just begun.

"It is not only the issue of your generation, it's the opportunity of your generation," he said in a speech to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce June 20. "As long as I'm around and kicking, I'll help. But to win, it will take us all."

Hickel and Fairbanks Mayor Jim Whitaker, chairman of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, urged pressure on the major North Slope producers, ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp., to sell the North Slope natural gas, rather than hold it in reserve while sending to domestic markets natural gas produced outside of the nation.

"We should demand that the producers sell, or we should take back the leases," Hickel said. "Yes, in the name of the Alaska people, we should take back that gas that we all own in common."

The Gasline Port Authority until recently had the backing of the California company Sempra Energy, which pulled out because of frustration over negotiations with the state and failure to negotiate a natural gas purchase from North Slope producers. Despite the setback, Whitaker still expressed optimism over the project.

Whitaker defined the situation not as a political issue, but an Alaska issue. Alaskans can only compete if they recognize the responsibility of ownership and the economic sovereignty that Gov. Hickel's generation has given them, he said.

Whitaker noted that models designed by backers of an allAlaska natural gas pipeline included a component calling for use of the gas in Alaska. This is especially critical for Southcentral Alaska, where demand is rapidly increasing as supply declines. "We can still do that, but the window is closing," he said.

The challenge now is market acceptance, he said. It is requisite that the market is in place, ready, willing, able and committed through production of the pipeline, he said. "We recognize the rush to meet market demand and have a schedule in place (to meet that demand)," he said.

Hickel said the oil industry has made outstanding contributions to modem Alaska, with the state's share of revenues and royalties used to improve quality of life in communities and schools. "But as Alaskans, we must ask ourselves, have we truly used our North Slope oil legacy to build a sustainable economy, or have we been bought off by our (Alaska Permanent Fund) dividends," he said.

Hickel criticized the North Slope producers for refusing to sell natural gas to the Alaska Gasline Port Authority. Representatives from ConocoPhillips Alaska and BP Exploration (Alaska) declined to comment.

Anchorage businessman Andrew Halcro, a former Republican legislator, was among the luncheon guests who agreed with Hickel and Whitaker that some of that natural gas needed to be directed to Southcentral Alaska.

"We tend to look at our resources like we have to have a fire sale," Halcro said. "I think that's unrealistic, but we've got to get the gas from Prudhoe to Southcentral."

Copyright Morris Communications Jun 26, 2005

Source: Alaska Journal of Commerce

More News in this Category