After 12 days, the Third Special Session is finally over. I attended House Finance Committee hearings every day while in Juneau, even on weekends. We heard from many key members of the Walker Administration as well as consultants explaining why it was the right choice was to buy out TransCanada’s 12.5 percent share of the AKLNG project.
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The Legislature is now in day 7 of a special session called by Governor Bill Walker to propose the ‘buy-out’ of TransCanada under SB138, a bill that passed under the last administration. After only a few days, it seems the best, and possibly the only, course moving forward on the proposed natural gasline for Alaska.
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Autumn is nearly over and Winter is creeping up on Fairbanks. To tell you the truth, at this point, I’d rather just have snow since we already have the ‘cold’. As you have heard, the Legislature has been called in to a special session regarding progress on the important gasline legislation that passed in 2014 under the last administration. We are scheduled to convene on Saturday morning at 11am. It won’t be easy to leave home for a month on the road, but this was anticipated and lawmakers should get this important work done no matter what the personal inconvenience.
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Last week, Governor Walker issued a proclamation calling the legislature into a special session to address gasline issues. On October 24, we will head down to Juneau to address some key issues: To reinstate a reserve tax on North Slope resources in the ground that are not developed and a proposal to buy TransCanada’s share of the gas pipeline and gas treatment facility. I am excited to work on these issues and hope that others can make the necessary steps to come together and move forward for Alaska.
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Earlier this month, I sent a letter to Governor Walker urging him to investigate high gas prices at the pump across Alaska. We have long seen a high price of gasoline, though an oil pipeline is in our own backyard. In 2007, an investigation by Governor Sarah Palin resulted in an inconclusive correlation between the price of gasoline and the price of crude, especially since crude prices were rising so quickly and refineries were using expensive oil to make gas. However, with the price of oil dropping to the levels of the early 2000’s, it remains a strong curiosity why the price of gasoline in Alaska continues to be the highest in the nation!
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