SCS CSHCR 2(FIN): Urging the Governor to commit to providing energy security for all Alaskans by supporting the in-state gas pipeline project and assisting the project in its efforts to secure needed permits, rights-of-way, engineering specifications, and other approvals necessary or desirable, to bundle the approvals for sale on the market to interested private sector pipeline companies, and in all other ways to act in due haste to move the in-state natural gas pipeline to a construction phase; urging the Governor to support the persons working on the in-state gas pipeline project in discussions with and obtaining of letters of intent from potential industrial users of natural gas, including the Agrium U.S., Inc., facility, the ConocoPhillips/Marathon facility, mining companies, and other businesses interested in value-added processing of petroleum gases transported in a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope or Brooks Range foothills for the purpose of providing jobs for Alaskans and ensuring the economic viability of the pipeline; urging the Governor to pursue the renewal of the license issued by the United States Department of Energy to export natural gas produced on the North Slope or in the Brooks Range foothills that exceeds the needs and demands of Alaskans for affordable natural gas; urging the Governor to continue negotiations with one or more entities capable of producing and supplying natural gas from the North Slope or Brooks Range foothills to Southcentral and Interior Alaska on commercially reasonable terms and in sufficient quantities to support the energy needs of Alaskans and the economic viability of a pipeline; urging the Governor to expedite the permits necessary or desirable to construct and operate a gas-to-liquids facility at Point Mackenzie if a feasibility document shows that it is economically viable; and urging the Governor to take the actions requested in this resolution, as necessary and appropriate, immediately and with all reasonable speed and effort.
00 SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 2(FIN) 01 Urging the Governor to commit to providing energy security for all Alaskans by 02 supporting the in-state gas pipeline project and assisting the project in its efforts to 03 secure needed permits, rights-of-way, engineering specifications, and other approvals 04 necessary or desirable, to bundle the approvals for sale on the market to interested 05 private sector pipeline companies, and in all other ways to act in due haste to move the 06 in-state natural gas pipeline to a construction phase; urging the Governor to support the 07 persons working on the in-state gas pipeline project in discussions with and obtaining of 08 letters of intent from potential industrial users of natural gas, including the Agrium 09 U.S., Inc., facility, the ConocoPhillips/Marathon facility, mining companies, and other 10 businesses interested in value-added processing of petroleum gases transported in a 11 natural gas pipeline from the North Slope or Brooks Range foothills for the purpose of 12 providing jobs for Alaskans and ensuring the economic viability of the pipeline; urging 13 the Governor to pursue the renewal of the license issued by the United States 14 Department of Energy to export natural gas produced on the North Slope or in the
01 Brooks Range foothills that exceeds the needs and demands of Alaskans for affordable 02 natural gas; urging the Governor to continue negotiations with one or more entities 03 capable of producing and supplying natural gas from the North Slope or Brooks Range 04 foothills to Southcentral and Interior Alaska on commercially reasonable terms and in 05 sufficient quantities to support the energy needs of Alaskans and the economic viability 06 of a pipeline; urging the Governor to expedite the permits necessary or desirable to 07 construct and operate a gas-to-liquids facility at Point Mackenzie if a feasibility 08 document shows that it is economically viable; and urging the Governor to take the 09 actions requested in this resolution, as necessary and appropriate, immediately and with 10 all reasonable speed and effort. 11 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 12 WHEREAS natural gas production in the Cook Inlet region of the state has suffered 13 significant decline, resulting in the closure of the Agrium U.S., Inc., facility in Kenai and 14 jeopardizing the supply of natural gas to consumers that rely on production from the Cook 15 Inlet region; and 16 WHEREAS there are significant quantities of natural gas on the North Slope that 17 could be produced if a means for economically delivering the product to market were 18 available; and 19 WHEREAS the major gas pipeline project licensed by the state under AS 43.90 20 (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) or a similar alternative project that offers five natural gas 21 delivery points in the state is not expected to transport natural gas from the North Slope until 22 after 2016; and 23 WHEREAS the people of the state need energy security and access to affordable 24 natural gas as soon as possible; and 25 WHEREAS the demand for natural gas in the state is expected to increase steadily; 26 and 27 WHEREAS farms cover more than 25,000 acres in five boroughs, and that acreage
01 has a value of approximately $22,700,000; and 02 WHEREAS more than 300 farmers reside in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and 03 more than 130 farmers reside in the Fairbanks area; and 04 WHEREAS Alaska farms need fertilizer for crops, particularly in the form of urea for 05 hay and grain crops; and 06 WHEREAS Agrium U.S., Inc., owns the only urea fertilizer plant in the state, and 07 that plant was closed in 2007 because of the lack of reasonably priced natural gas for use as 08 feedstock for the plant; the closure of the Agrium U.S., Inc., urea fertilizer plant resulted in a 09 loss of approximately 250 jobs and a 400 percent increase in the cost of fertilizer for farmers 10 in the state because of the costs of shipping in fertilizer from outside the state; and 11 WHEREAS a natural gas pipeline that delivers natural gas from the North Slope to 12 the Cook Inlet region could provide necessary feedstock for the Agrium U.S., Inc., urea 13 fertilizer plant, enabling the plant to reopen; and 14 WHEREAS the state has an interest in encouraging consumers to switch from liquid 15 fossil fuels to less expensive and cleaner-burning natural gas, particularly in the Interior and 16 other regions in the state struggling to comply with the fine particle air quality standard 17 commonly known as PM 2.5, imposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency 18 under 42 U.S.C. 7401 - 7671q (Clean Air Act); and 19 WHEREAS the United States Energy Information Administration in the United States 20 Department of Energy projects a growing international and domestic demand for Fischer- 21 Tropsch fuels and Alaska is identified as an important domestic source of gas-to-liquids 22 production; and 23 WHEREAS the United States Department of Energy export license granted to 24 ConocoPhillips Alaska Natural Gas Corporation and Marathon Oil Company to export from 25 the Kenai liquefied natural gas export facility near Kenai up to 99,000,000,000,000 British 26 thermal units of liquefied natural gas, the equivalent of 98,100,000,000 cubic feet of natural 27 gas, will expire March 31, 2011, and, if not renewed, the Kenai liquefied natural gas export 28 facility may close after 2011; and 29 WHEREAS the collective demand for natural gas in the Interior and Southcentral is 30 anticipated to expand from 200,000,000 cubic feet a day to approximately 700,000,000 cubic 31 feet a day during the period 2010 to 2025, and, if no new natural gas is discovered in the Cook
01 Inlet region, the demand for natural gas in Southcentral alone will exceed production from the 02 Cook Inlet region; and 03 WHEREAS renewing the natural gas export license so that natural gas may be 04 exported from Alaska using natural gas transported from the North Slope will improve the 05 economic viability of the in-state pipeline, protect jobs and key industries, address the 06 potential lack of natural gas supply to industrial and consumer customers in the Interior and 07 Southcentral, and enhance PM 2.5 compliance in the state; and 08 WHEREAS the state has made considerable progress on developing an in-state gas 09 pipeline, as reflected in the Governor's Alaska in-state gas pipeline project coordinator's 10 report, "Stand-Alone Gas Pipeline Project Description or Plan of Development," which 11 includes preliminary designs and planning for pipeline facilities; route analysis for the in-state 12 pipeline, pipeline specifications, and identification of material, equipment, and land 13 acquisition needs; and 14 WHEREAS the Governor's Alaska in-state gas pipeline project coordinator suggests 15 that construction of the in-state pipeline could begin by June 2012, with possible startup by 16 2016; and 17 WHEREAS, by 2018, declining oil flow through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System 18 will seriously diminish state revenue, and the project licensed under AS 43.90 (Alaska 19 Gasline Inducement Act) to deliver North Slope gas to the North American gas pipeline grid 20 in Central Alberta is not expected to produce state revenue before 2020; and 21 WHEREAS the first open season for the project licensed under AS 43.90 (Alaska 22 Gasline Inducement Act) will be conducted during the summer of 2010; and 23 WHEREAS, if the state receives conditional transportation commitments, those 24 conditional transportation commitments will lack the value of firm commitments required by 25 potential financiers and may not provide a strong platform with which to secure financing for 26 the large-diameter pipeline; and 27 WHEREAS receipt of conditional commitments during open season will extend the 28 period of time before Alaskans will know with certainty whether or not a large diameter 29 pipeline will be able to secure financing and move forward to the construction phase; and 30 WHEREAS failing to move forward with the development of an in-state gas pipeline 31 if only conditional commitments are received for the project licensed under AS 43.90 (Alaska
01 Gasline Inducement Act) would fail to provide Alaskans with gas supply certainty; and 02 WHEREAS it is in the best interest of all Alaskans to continue to move forward to the 03 construction of an in-state natural gas pipeline and to designate a time certain to build that in- 04 state gas pipeline; 05 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor to commit to 06 providing energy security for all Alaskans by supporting the in-state gas pipeline project in its 07 efforts to secure needed permits, rights-of-way, engineering specifications, and other 08 approvals necessary or desirable; to bundle the approvals for sale on the market to interested 09 private sector pipeline companies; and in all other ways to act in due haste to move the in- 10 state natural gas pipeline to a construction phase; and be it 11 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 12 support the persons working on the in-state gas pipeline project in discussions with and 13 obtaining of letters of intent from potential industrial users of natural gas, including the 14 Agrium U.S., Inc., facility, the ConocoPhillips/Marathon facility, mining companies, and 15 other businesses interested in value-added processing of petroleum gases transported in a 16 natural gas pipeline from the North Slope or Brooks Range foothills for the purpose of 17 providing jobs for Alaskans and ensuring the economic viability of the pipeline; and be it 18 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 19 pursue the renewal of the license issued by the United States Department of Energy to export 20 natural gas produced on the North Slope or in the Brooks Range foothills that exceeds the 21 needs and demands of Alaskans for affordable natural gas; and be it 22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 23 continue negotiations with one or more entities capable of producing and supplying natural 24 gas from the North Slope or Brooks Range foothills to Southcentral and Interior Alaska on 25 commercially reasonable terms and in sufficient quantities to support the energy needs of 26 Alaskans and the economic viability of a pipeline; and be it 27 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to 28 expedite the permits necessary or desirable to construct and operate a gas-to-liquids facility at 29 Point MacKenzie if a feasibility document shows that it is economically viable; and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to take 31 the actions requested in this resolution, as necessary and appropriate, immediately and with all
01 reasonable speed and effort.