HR 11: Requesting the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Revenue to prepare biannual reports to the legislature on the status of the project licensed under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
00 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 11 01 Requesting the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Revenue to 02 prepare biannual reports to the legislature on the status of the project licensed under the 03 Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 05 WHEREAS it is in the public interest for the legislature and the public to have as 06 much accurate and complete information as possible about the economic viability of and 07 progress made on the large diameter gas pipeline project plan under development by 08 TransCanada Alaska Company, LLC, and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., jointly as licensee under 09 AS 43.90 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act), before the legislature makes an appropriation for 10 the reimbursement of qualified expenditures; and 11 WHEREAS, in a letter dated April 10, 2009, to the Chair of the House Judiciary 12 Committee and Co-Chair of the House Resources Committee, with copies sent to the Co- 13 Chairs of the House Special Committee on Energy, the governor agreed that biannual reports 14 on the progress made by TransCanada Alaska Company, LLC, and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., 15 jointly as licensee under AS 43.90 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act), on the project plan
01 licensed under AS 43.90 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) will serve the public interest in 02 monitoring the progress of the licensed project; and 03 WHEREAS the governor stated that when the commissioner of natural resources and 04 the commissioner of revenue reviewed the application submitted under AS 43.90 (Alaska 05 Gasline Inducement Act) by TransCanada Alaska Company, LLC, and Foothills Pipe Lines 06 Ltd., jointly as licensee, the commissioners made their findings based on conservative 07 estimates for costs of the pipeline and equally conservative estimates for the long-term price 08 of natural gas in North America, and that these two factors are the foundation of the project 09 plan licensed under AS 43.90 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) and should be monitored on a 10 continuous basis; and 11 WHEREAS, after correspondence between members of the legislature and 12 discussions with the governor and officials in the Department of Natural Resources, the 13 administration agreed to submit biannual reports on the following subjects: (1) project 14 reimbursement status; (2) project progress and major achievements; (3) project assessments 15 by third-party consultants to the administration; and (4) the Alaska workforce assessment; and 16 that these subjects would be elaborated upon with a specificity of detail mirroring the 17 presentation given by Tony Palmer, Vice President, Alaska Business Development, 18 TransCanada Alaska Company, LLC, to the House Special Committee on Energy on April 7, 19 2009; and 20 WHEREAS including in the public record the specific details that these biannual 21 reports should include will best serve the interests of the Alaska State Legislature and all 22 Alaskans; 23 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives requests the governor, the 24 Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of Revenue to prepare biannual reports 25 to the legislature, based on and including specific information obtained from TransCanada 26 Alaska Company, LLC, and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., jointly as licensee under AS 43.90 27 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act), and from other reasonable and reliable sources; and be it 28 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives requests that the 29 following specific items be included in each report and, if there is no change from the 30 immediately preceding report on a specific item, the report note that there is no change: 31 (1) a status report on the project and changes to the project plan including
01 (A) amendments or modifications to the project plan, if any, including 02 the timeline for receiving the certificate of public convenience and necessity from the 03 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; the timeline for the development phase of the 04 project; the timeline for the construction and execution of the project; and other 05 project timelines that are related to the time when the project is expected to be in 06 commercial operation; 07 (B) charts, timelines, and schedules, if any, or changes to the pipeline 08 specifications, project management, and evaluations of those modifications; 09 (C) a description of major achievements and attainment of project 10 milestones during the reporting period; 11 (D) changes to project manuals, processes, plans, and guides for the 12 utilization of project staff that may have also been provided to the representative of the 13 commissioner of natural resources and the commissioner of revenue designated under 14 AS 43.90.220(d), and generally to the commissioners; 15 (E) progress assessments provided to the commissioner of natural 16 resources and the commissioner of revenue by third-party consultants to the 17 administration and other reasonable and reliable sources; if the content of the 18 assessments are confidential, members of the legislature may have access to the 19 reports after signing and agreeing to a confidentiality agreement; 20 (2) in the biannual report requested to be filed on April 30 of each year, 21 provide an Alaska workforce and Alaska business participation assessment, including a 22 description of 23 (A) how TransCanada Alaska Company, LLC, and Foothills Pipe 24 Lines Ltd., jointly as licensee have satisfied the commitment to hire Alaskans and 25 contract with Alaska businesses in the development of the project, and how the 26 licensee plans to meet the commitment in the future; 27 (B) a description of the participation of Alaska businesses in the 28 project; 29 (C) the contracts and work plans for the next phase of the licensed 30 project and a description of how Alaska businesses will participate in the next phase of 31 the project;
01 (D) the jobs available on the project for qualified Alaskans and the 02 jobs anticipated to become available for qualified Alaskans; 03 (3) for the report due October 31, a description of 04 (A) the number of Alaska businesses that have received a contract 05 from the licensee for work on the project; 06 (B) the number of Alaskans hired by the licensee for seasonal work 07 and for full-time, year-round work; 08 (C) the extent to which contracts with Alaska businesses and the 09 employment of Alaskans met the expectations reported in the report requested to be 10 made on the immediately preceding April 30; 11 (4) an update on the market and cost expectations for the project licensed 12 under AS 43.90 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) that addresses significant changes, if any, 13 to the market expectations for the market or markets expected to be served by the project and 14 the cost estimates in the project plan; the report is requested to provide 15 (A) an update to the cost estimate for the development phase and cost 16 estimate for the execution phase of the project plan; 17 (B) a description of alternatives contemplated to the capitalization plan 18 in the project plan, if any; and 19 (C) an assessment of the project viability, if that has changed since the 20 previous report; and be it 21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives requests the governor, 22 the Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of Revenue to submit the first 23 biannual report to the legislature and the public on April 30 and the second biannual report on 24 October 31 of each year, and to continue to submit subsequent biannual reports until 25 TransCanada Alaska Company, LLC, and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., jointly as licensee, secure 26 a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate of public convenience and necessity.