Gasline Now Act scheduled for hearing in House Oil and Gas Committee

We cannot wait another generation for a gasline

The Alaska "Gasline Now Act," (HB 223) is an idea whose time has come. We need the jobs and need the gas to heat our homes and fuel our economy for the next 50 years. We need an Alaska gasline now!

The Gasline Now Act charges a fee to producers for failing to develop big gas fields. The $1 billion per year fee goes away when a gas pipeline is built, and a company can get a full refund once gas starts flowing through the pipeline. If the leaseholder refuses to develop the gas, they can give back their leases to be re-leased to companies willing to develop Alaska's gas. We are telling Exxon and British Petroleum to lead, follow, or get out of the way.

HB 223, the "Gasline Now Act," has been scheduled for a hearing in the House Oil and Gas committee on Tuesday, March 7. The committee, chaired by Representative Vic Kohring (R-Wasilla), meets at 5:30 pm in room 124 of the Capitol. Because there are two other bills on the calendar scheduled before HB 223, I do not expect it to be heard on Tuesday. However, there is another committee hearing on Tuesday, March 14, and the Gasline Now Act should be the first item of business.

In recent years, each of the major North Slope producers has invested billions of dollars in overseas projects to bring foreign gas to U.S. markets, but so far they have been unwilling to invest in Alaska natural gas. The Gasline Now Act makes sitting on Alaska's gas a lot less comfortable.

Part of the reason this bill is being heard is the ballot initiative Representatives Harry Crawford (D-Anchorage), David Guttenberg (D-Fairbanks), and I circulated last fall. We collected more than 47,000 signatures to put essentially the same measure on the November ballot. If the Legislature fails to pass HB 223 this session, voters will decide the question in the November election.