Candidate has gas line message for Seward

Published on February 4th, 2010

By CINTHIA RITCHIE

Bill Walker has a vision for Alaska: He wants to see a gas line built. And he wants to see it happen now.

Walker, a candidate for governor, will be in Seward on Feb. 9 to talk about state issues, including the push for an all Alaskan gas line.

According to Walker, about 80 percent of the state's budget is derived from North Slope oil. Yet oil reserves are declining at around 5 percent a year.

"I'm very concerned with the economic future of the state to fund education and other programs," he said.

Add to that rising energy prices and the future for Alaskans looks at what Walker referred to as "bleak."

Enter the All-Alaska Gasline Project, which would consist of an 800-mile pipeline stretching down from Prudhoe Bay and then veering off around Glennallen to travel to both Valdez and Anchorage.

On Jan. 29, TransCanada Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp. filed plans with regulators to build the natural gas line and asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve two potential pipeline paths: One connecting Prudhoe Bay with Alberta, Canada, and the other the 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

The FERC has 60 days to review the plans. If approved, TransCanada and Exxon would begin an open season to seek supply commitments by early summer.

British Petroleum and ConocoPhillips have a similar project that would run pipeline from the North Slope to Alberta, and then from Alberta to Chicago.

But Walker, along with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, believes the gas line should be state-owned and built by the private sector. He isn't in favor of a line through Canada.

"We need to keep jobs in Alaska," he said.

The North Slope is estimated to hold more than 30 trillion cubic feet of known gas reserves; undiscovered estimates range up to 200 trillion cubic feet.

"The amount of gas that comes out into the oil everyday and that we re-inject everyday is the same amount of gas that's consumed in California, Oregon and Washington daily," Walker said.

Keeping the pipeline project in Alaska would positively impact coastal regions such as Seward by lowering energy costs and granting tourism-related businesses a much needed revenue boost.