By Serge F. Kovaleski and Mike McIntire When Governor Sarah Palin took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump- started a long-delayed gas pipeline project.

The Alaska House has approved a license for a Canadian energy company that wants to build a natural gas pipeline down the Alaska Highway to Alberta. The Alaska House approved the plan offered by TransCanada Corp. of Calgary 24-16 late Tuesday, the Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday.

Members of the House of Representatives voted late Tuesday to approve an exclusive state license for a Canadian energy company proposing to build a natural gas pipeline down the Alaska Highway to Alberta.

By Tim Bradner, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Anchorage Jun. 6--State legislators met in Juneau June 5 for a second day of intensive briefings on a proposed state license to TransCanada Corp. to tackle a $30 billion-plus North Slope gas pipeline.

With a special legislative session on the natural gas pipeline set to begin Tuesday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her advisers have begun the hard sell for their plan to achieve the elusive dream project.