Borough makes pitch for big pipeline terminal

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly is calling on the state to consolidate its natural gas pipeline efforts and route the line to Point MacKenzie.

In a resolution passed Jan. 17, the assembly touts the benefits of a gas line terminating near its budding port.

“Port MacKenzie with its rail extension permitted and under construction will attract high volumes of natural resources that could be further developed prior to export from our deep water port given a source of cheap energy,” the resolution states.

It also sells the port’s proximity to the existing Southcentral Alaska natural gas infrastructure as a way to tie that product into the state’s system and the port as a good place to locate a liquefaction plant and send gas to Asian markets.

As most people studying the issue on a state level have also noted, the borough says that selling gas in Canada might not work any longer for Alaska since the Lower 48 gas market is so saturated.

The resolution beats a drum that Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, has been beating for some time now — adding value to the gas by using it to make other products rather than just selling the raw molecules. The borough says it has room to do that at Point MacKenzie.

The state is considering two pipeline projects, the Exxon/Trans-Canada pipeline to send gas to Canada and the state’s own Stand Alone Pipeline project, often dubbed the bullet line, which has a planned terminus at Point MacKenzie.

The borough points out that Trans-Canada has the option of routing to tidewater rather than sending it to Canada. That option is usually envisioned as terminating in Valdez.

Under the terms of the agreement Trans-Canada filed with the state, any gas lines other than Trans-Canada’s have to pump less than 500 million cubic feet of gas per day. The borough says that going with the tidewater route would allow a bigger line to run south.

The borough wants the line consolidated with the Stand Alone route to avoid duplicating efforts, and it wants the line to terminate here.

“A high-volume line will spur a new generation of industry in-state and will deliver gas at rates that will make us competitive in the global market,” Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss says in a press release.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at Andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.