Bill Walker, Alaska Dispatch

Our state is at a turning point. The pipeline is two thirds empty and oil production continues to decline at an alarming rate. Unless a gas pipeline is built to bring cheap energy to Alaskans and provide an alternative source of revenue to fill state coffers our next generation will not enjoy the same level of prosperity. That is a fact.

Although Gov. Parnell refuses to release the results of Exxon and TransCanada’s open season that closed on Aug. 1, we do know that any bids received were heavily conditioned. We also know that the United States no longer needs Alaska’s gas. Breakthroughs in tapping shale gas formations have led to gluts in North American natural gas markets. The federal government estimates the Lower 48 now has a 100-plus year supply of natural gas, and that its price will be depressed for at last 35 years. Consequently, TransCanada’s CEO says an Alaska project is not a priority.

In response Gov. Parnell suggests that AGIA allows for a gas pipeline to Canada or Valdez and thus all bases are covered. However, TransCanada has stated that the Valdez option will only be bid in the initial open season and subsequent open seasons will only include the Canadian route. But what Alaskans do not know is that TransCanada will have exclusive control of the Valdez route under AGIA and will essentially block that exit for Alaska’s gas.

Parnell is staying the Canadian course even though Alaskans will pay 90 percent of the costs for the next Canadian only open season and this is in addition to a subsidization of up to $20 billion, almost double the $13 billion in incentives Gov. Murkowski proposed under the Stranded Gas Development Act.

If Parnell is truly advancing the Valdez LNG export option, why has he not worked with Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest global purchaser of LNG, and Sempra LNG which owns the only LNG receiving terminal on the West Coast? Why does his administration not have a continuous presence in Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei as it does in Alberta? Why did Parnell applaud the recent FERC decision to require reapplication for one of the environmental permits obtained for the Valdez LNG option rather than challenge yet another move by the federal government to hinder our resource development opportunities? Why did his administration commission a $12 million study to discredit the Valdez LNG option and fail to renew the state right-of-way permit for the project? Parnell’s campaign theme is “Action not Words.” However, his words say he is also aggressively pursuing the Valdez route but his actions prove the contrary.

Ted Stevens and Don Young both recently recognized that Canadian and Lower 48 gas markets are saturated and our future lies in Asia. To ensure economic prosperity for the next generation, the state must take the reins and aggressively pursue the development of a gas pipeline to Valdez with a spur line to Southcentral. The project would be financed by world markets through long-term LNG contracts secured before a shovel hits the ground and built and operated by the private sector. We have a world class opportunity and the “All-Alaska Gasline” provides a world class solution that puts Alaska first by delivering low cost energy to our homes and businesses, putting Alaskans to work and igniting our economy for decades to come.