UPDATED: Congressional delegation welcomes Exxon TransCanada deal

"While a lot of work remains to be done, this brings us one step closer to bringing jobs and reliable energy to Alaskans and the nation," Murkowski said.

Murkowski recently won approval for inclusion of amendments to the Senate energy bill to increase the federal loan guarantee for an Alaska gas pipeline project from $18 billion to $30 billion, grant the pipeline sponsors access to the Federal Financing Bank, and other provisions.

Young called the news "exciting" and noted that he'd been working on getting a gasline for his whole 36-year congressional career. "Starting on day one of my Congressional career I led the fight for our state's greatest energy development project, the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. This gasline has been a long time coming, but as we embark on the second largest investment into our energy future, I am encouraged and optimistic that the end result will be one of our greatest ventures," he said.

"I congratulate the Governor for her hard work on this gasline project and I applaud ExxonMobil for joining in this partnership," Young said. "Years from now many will try to claim credit for the pipeline, but this is not something that the White House got done or the anti-production House leadership got done; the credit lies in the hands of Alaskans."

Begich also congratulated the Palin administration for "their persistence in helping get Exxon and TransCanada together in this partnership."

But he pointed out the process is just beginning. "It eventually will be up to the State Legislature to approve changes to state law which may be requested by Exxon and perhaps the other producers to take the gas line project to the next steps," he said. "I believe any Alaska gas line project must provide gas to Alaskans and other benefits, such as jobs and a fair share of revenues, to our citizens."

Last week, Sen. Begich said that he and President Obama were not happy with how the pipeline is progressing. "We're just frustrated that Alaska has not moved forward with regard to the gas line -- it's an important part of our national energy policy... The president has clearly indicated it's one of the top five projects he wants to move forward on," he said.