TAPS worth twice state's '06 assessment, says judge

According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, an Alaska Superior Court judge has decided that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is worth more than twice what a 2006 state valuation said. The six-week trial over the value was hashed out in August between at least three sides, but the final decision was handed down on Monday. A group of Alaska municipalities argued TAPS was worth $11.57 billion, the state's official assessment said $4.2 billion, and the oil companies argued $850 million. State Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason decided that the pipeline's value was somewhere in between, staking it at $9.9 billion. Judge Gleason's decision means that Fairbanks North Star Borough, for one, will be getting $5 million more in 2006 property taxes from oil companies, plus interest and attorney fees. Now that that's settled, what's next? Well, a trial to settle disputes over the state's 2007, 2008 and 2009 pipeline value assessments is set to begin in 2011. Read much more, here.