Gasline

An In-Depth Look at the Gasline from WalkerforAlaskaGovernor on Vimeo.

IT IS TIME FOR ALASKA TO START ACTING LIKE THE OWNER STATE THAT WE ARE! 

We, the people of Alaska, own the resources of the state.  For far too long we have relied on others to develop our resources and move them to market.  Over the years we have witnessed other countries move their valuable resources to market while Alaska’s resources remain in the ground. That must change!  Now is the time for us to take charge of our resources; now is the time to seize control of our future for the lasting benefit of all Alaskans.  

Eighty percent of Alaska’s state budget is from North Slope oil.  But TAPS throughput has fallen over 5% annually.  Without revenues from a gas pipeline to offset declining oil production, the State’s economic future is bleak.  Therefore, the greatest risk is presently being borne by Alaskans by not having access to our gas as economical energy and lost revenues from our gas not going to market.    

And when rising energy prices are accounted for, the future for individual Alaskans is even worse.  Alaskans need access to North Slope gas now!  But in order for gas to Alaskans to be economic via  pipeline from the North Slope it must be anchored by out-of-state sales.    

With the Lower 48 awash in shale gas it does not need ours.  According to recent reports by the U.S. Department of Energy, shale gas plays in the Lower 48 can fulfill North American gas demand for a 100+ years.  The only viable option for Alaska is for a gas pipeline to Valdez and LNG sold on the world markets.  This ensures that the jobs resulting from the pipeline construction, operation and value added industries from the valuable gas liquids remain in Alaska.   

I have been actively involved with the All-Alaska gas line efforts for the past 30 years. Over and over the state has urged outside interests to compete for the right to develop a gas pipeline, to the same ineffectual result.    

Meanwhile dozens of LNG projects around the world have been constructed.  Here’s why.  Host governments that shoulder some risk and control the gas handling infrastructure, market their gas on their schedule.  They act as the sovereigns they are.  We must do the same.   

Now is the time for Alaska to move forward with our own gas pipeline; one that is fully within our state boundaries. We will finance it, own it and determine when it gets built.  It will be built and operated with Alaskan workers.  Alaskans will take the risk and Alaskans will enjoy the rewards.  No longer will we place our future in the hands of others. This is the only way we can control our future.  Now is the time to act like the owner state that we are.  

The North Slope producers have stated and put in writing that if someone will bear the risks associated with the building of  a pipeline, they will ship or sell their gas on commercially reasonable terms.  While we as a state can manage the risk associated with building a state owned pipeline, we as a state cannot manage or survive the risk to the future of our state if a gas pipeline is never built.   

Publicly owned transportation and energy infrastructure is commonplace in Alaska.  It is nothing new.  It just takes a decision to make it happen.  Here are examples:  

• Our highways 
• Our airports
• Hydroelectric facilities
• The Alaska Marine Highway System
• The Alaska Railroad     

It’s time to act as the sovereigns we are.  We can get our energy to the Alaska people who desperately need it and ship the excess gas to world markets to replace our declining revenues from oil.   

Getting our valuable proven gas resources to Alaskans and to market is the single most important issue for Alaska and our future. As your governor, I will ensure that we will no longer yield control of our future to others. We will get our gas to market through an All Alaskan owned pipeline.  

As Alaskans we have the most to gain from a gas pipeline project.  But Alaska will only realize benefits from a pipeline – royalties, taxes, a construction boom, value added industries, jobs and affordable energy to Alaskans – if one is actually constructed.  Only we can control our own destiny, and that destiny is a State owned, State controlled All-Alaska pipeline to Valdez.