Alaska Dispatch

The Anchorage Democrat and two colleagues are hosting a meeting Tuesday night, offering folks a chance to ask questions of the state's gas pipeline leads, Commissioner of Revenue Pat Galvin and Mark Myers, the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act coordinator. That way, people can get the straight talk from representatives of officials elected by the people, Wielechowski said.

But the state's involvement in gas pipeline plans makes it a player in a complex game that involves government, producers, and companies wanting to build a pipeline. Now the state's got a position to sell and a financial stake in advancing one project. Some are skeptical the state can be counted on for the hard facts.

TransCanada Corp. is pursuing a large-diameter natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to an Alberta hub, with $500 million from Alaska and state support under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. Also planning a pipeline are producers BP and ConocoPhillips, operating as Denali. Officials with both projects say they're plugging along toward an open season in 2010, a major step during which producers will get a chance to eye shipping terms and decide whether to commit their gas.

The major North Slope producers have been clear that unless the state is willing to renegotiate fiscal terms, any open season bids will likely be conditional pending an agreement. Gov. Sean Parnell has said the state's fiscal terms are fine, but that he'd be willing to talk with producers if they come to the table with real numbers demonstrating the need for change.

While AGIA, passed by the Legislature in 2007, may have spurred two pipeline projects, skeptics wonder just how viable those plans are as costs are estimated at anywhere from $26 billion to more than $30 billion, and as exploration helps define massive unconventional gas reserves in the Lower 48.

"This is what happens when the state crosses that bridge from being a market regulator to a market participant," said Andrew Halcro, a former state lawmaker now running for Congress. "With AGIA, they clearly have a dog in the fight," he said. "To be honest and say ‘hey, this isn't working' would be to say their own work has been for naught."

Alaskans have been hearing a lot of talk lately that could be construed as anti-AGIA, or that at least indicates potential hurdles for a gas pipeline. There's the unimaginable quantity of shale gas reserves in the Lower 48, record gas volumes in storage, and relatively low prices. A growing slate of gubernatorial candidates with their eyes on 2010 are denouncing AGIA, calling instead for the state to focus on liquid natural gas exports to Asia from Valdez, or on developing the Alaska oil industry.

But Wielechowski said that's exactly why the public needs a chance to ask questions of the state.

"As the hyperbole on all sides gets geared up, it's going to be important, just from a public policy standpoint, we make decisions based on what's in the best interests of the state," Wielechowski said. "I think the worst thing in the world is for this project to move forward or not move forward based on inaccurate information."

Wielechowski said he and Reps. Max Gruenberg and Pete Petersen, both Anchorage Democrats, decided against inviting TransCanada and Denali, the entities pursuing the pipeline projects.

"This should be an unbiased analysis of what's going on," Wielechowski said, adding that the state should be counted on for the facts.

Halcro said AGIA, which the state used to push private development of a pipeline, was a fairytale to begin with -- and that was before a global economic decline and major changes in the natural gas market that shadow the potential of getting Arctic gas to markets for a profit. He questioned whether citizens would get the truth.

"We've always known that Arctic gas has the biggest challenges; it's expensive to get out of the ground and to get to market," Halcro said. "Nothing has really changed with all the rah-rah pep rally stuff around AGIA. The risk is, the cheerleading these folks are doing really risks being honest with Alaskans."

For Wielechowski, it's the potential benefits that make a gas line "probably the most important project we've done in the state."

Those include thousands of construction jobs, affordable fuel in the state's major population centers, and potential billions in state revenues, he said.

"We get questions from constituents all the time: ‘What's going on with the gas line?'" Wielechowski said. "This is an opportunity, unfiltered. Raise your hand and ask a question."

The meeting starts at 7 p.m.on Oct. 20 at Begich Middle School in Anchorage.

Contact Rena Delbridge at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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