Saturday, May 25, 2013

News
Gas Export Advocates Push Back Against Bullet Line
A feeling of impatience is driving the concept of a natural gas pipeline that would be solely for Alaskan consumers.
By Bill McAllister


Natural gas fever has returned to Alaska's political culture.

A new report and a television ad campaign are pushing the idea of a so-called bullet line to bring natural gas to consumers along the Railbelt.

But critics are speaking up, saying that project would sell the state short.

There's talk of a special legislative session later this year to take up the issue of a bullet line.

But supporters of two competing proposals for a gas export pipeline say that it's too small of a project and would not be of adequate benefit to Alaskans.

A feeling of impatience is driving the concept of a natural gas pipeline that would be solely for Alaskan consumers.

It's even present in the acronym for the project -- ASAP -- which is short for Alaska's stand-alone pipeline.

"We need to step forward with something,” said Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak. “You don't start the journey until you take a first step somewhere, and we're not getting a lot of traction on other proposals."

Former state Representative Jay Ramras is pushing the idea of a bullet line in television commercials for his Fairbanks business.

The ad says in part: "The state's treasury has the money. It's time for Alaska to build something. The Alaska house and senate and governor Parnell should call a special session. Let's debate it, agree to build it and make Alaska's future positive and affordable."

A report delivered to lawmakers and Governor Parnell on Tuesday touted the idea of a 737-mile gas line from the North Slope to Big Lake -- state-owned but privately built and operated.

But the $7.5 billion investment would foreclose other, better options, say critics.

"I'm familiar with that sense of impatience that we've got to do something, but I guess I want to make sure we evaluate all the things,” said Bill Walker, a candidate for governor last year who is counsel to the Alaska Gasline Port Authority. “In other words, what I'm hoping is that we'll have an opportunity to lay the benefits of an all-Alaska line side-by-side to the bullet line."

Walker has been working for years to get a pipeline to Valdez, where gas would be chilled to a liquid and shipped out on tankers to Asian markets.

He says that would satisfy in-state gas needs while providing billions of dollars in revenue to the treasury.

"I don't think there'll be two pipelines. I don't think if you do a 24-inch in one location there'll be a 42-inch in another location. There'll only be one pipeline."

Meanwhile, state Senator Tom Wagoner of Kenai says that recent estimates of gas volumes in Cook Inlet indicate there should be enough to meet Southcentral demand without the bullet line.

"If the State of Alaska runs out there and throws all this money at a bullet line, what you've done is you've said to the people that are getting ready to spend a lot of money in Cook Inlet 'we don't want you in Alaska.' And I think that would be a really bad mistake at this time."

Wagoner says it would make more sense to put state money into the major pipeline being pursued by the firm Transcanada under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act -- lowering the tariff and reducing costs for Alaska consumers.

So while the bullet line is getting a public relations boost this week, the decades-long debate over Alaska natural gas burns on.

Walker also wants to see the legislature repeal AGIA, which he says is tying the state's hands.

The report on the bullet line limited the project to 500 million cubic feet of gas per day, the volume allowed under AGIA for a secondary project.