 by Gov. Frank Murkowski April 05, 2004
My team, including top legal, economic and commercial experts, is working diligently on a framework under which a gas pipeline project can be built. MidAmerican had something to contribute to that plan and we encouraged its contribution in every way we felt appropriate. The company sought to be the state's development partner for the development of the Alaska section of the gas pipeline and we provided MidAmerican with an opportunity to do just that. Recognizing that under current U.S. and Canadian law TransCanada and its subsidiary, Foothills Pipeline Company, hold an exclusive right to develop the gas pipeline to take gas from the North Slope through Canada to the Lower 48 states, the best way for MidAmerican to obtain the five-year "exclusive" it wanted to the Alaska portion of the project would have been to develop a joint work plan with TransCanada. Once that was completed, TransCanada and the state would have consolidated the five-year exclusive Alaska right-of-way across federal and state lands in MidAmerican. We hoped that this would give it the security MidAmerican needed to move forward as the state's development partner. But in the end MidAmerican wanted the state to agree to reject the Stranded Gas Application the state had already accepted from the producers of the gas. I did not and still do not believe that the state can legally and morally go back on its promise to negotiate under the law in good faith with the producers. What I did offer was a guarantee that the state would protect MidAmerican by not offering better economic terms to any other party. However, this was not good enough for them. Our offer, in the words of internationally renowned oil and gas consultant Pedro van Meurs, was one that "any sensible pipeline company would be very happy with." This is borne out by the fact that we subsequently made the same offer to TransCanada, which is aggressively negotiating it with the state. TransCanada has also indicated an interest in working with the Alaska companies that had joined with MidAmerican, including Alaska Native corporations. We are not only making progress with TransCanada, but also with the Port Authority (formed under state law) to commercialize our gas through LNG exports from Valdez. We need to explore how a highway pipeline project to the Lower 48 states will work with and build on the progress of this initiative. The bottom line is that, as I stated in my March 25 letter to MidAmerican, now is the time to work with all the interested companies and authorities to develop a project together. This gives us the best chance of success. Limiting options by excluding participants at this stage is simply not in the state's best interest. We have too many options and opportunities to develop further at this point. Clearly, the time for the natural
gas pipeline is coming to fruition. As owners in common of their
natural resources, the people of Alaska want their interests
protected and their return maximized. Making sure that happens
is the mission of this administration. We cannot make deals inconsistent
with this mission. and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.
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