Gas line meeting draws crowd

Jan. 9, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH

Frontiersman

WASILLA - Supporters of an all-Alaska natural gas pipeline came out swinging Sunday afternoon during a presentation by the Alaska Gasline Port Authority.

&#8220We've gone 12 rounds in an 18 round fight and we're the only ones still standing,” moderator John Reeves said as the presentation began.

The presentation hit on a wide range of topics related to the authority's proposed project. One of the main points was that North Slope gas should be used as soon as possible to benefit Alaskans in whatever ways possible - through construction of a pipeline, cheap gas for Alaskans and increased state revenue.

&#8220It's Alaska's gas and it should be used for Alaskans' benefit,” Valdez mayor Bert Cottle said.

But as the event wore on, participants also used the forum to speak out against big oil and the Murkowski administration for their inability to get any kind of project off the ground.

&#8220At what point do Alaskans say, ‘enough is enough?'” asked Cottle. &#8220I think that point is now.”

Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, attended the meeting and said he believes much of the blame for the stalled pipeline discussions should go to one company.

&#8220The biggest stumbling block is Exxon,” Gatto said. &#8220They do not want to move the gas.”

Gatto expressed anger with the oil giant both for its reluctance to move North Slope natural gas and the company's failure to pay settlements from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

&#8220They know that if you can hire more attorneys, you can go on for a generation,” he said. &#8220Dealing with Exxon has been a serious problem.”

The Murkowski administration was unable to secure a contract with the North Slope oil and gas companies to bring the state's enormous gas reserves to market. Many in attendance at Sunday's forum said the oil companies have no right to sit on gas that belongs to the state, and pressure should be brought to bear on them.

&#8220If you had a house with a tenant that didn't pay rent for 20 years, would you let them keep living there?” Reeves asked. &#8220Exxon owes us money.”

Reeves said he believes Gov. Sarah Palin's new administration will be more supportive of the port authority's project, as well as less beholden than Murkowski to the interests of oil companies.

&#8220They've owned a lot of our legislators. They've owned our governor. But they don't own our governor now. They don't own this guy here,” he said, pointing to Gatto.

The port authority is comprised of representatives from the municipal governments of Valdez, Fairbanks and the North Slope. Its goal is to build a pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, with a spur line to supply Southcentral Alaska's gas needs.

The plan, supporters say, would share revenue from the line between the state and municipalities across Alaska.

Beyond that, however, port authority representatives said they would be perfectly happy if someone else - including the oil companies - built the pipeline. The point, they stressed, is that some kind of pipeline project needs to get done sooner rather than later.

&#8220Either we'll build it or somebody else will build it,” Cottle said.

The Valdez mayor said port authority representatives will continue holding public forums across the state as a way to drum up support for the project and keep pressure on the oil companies.

&#8220We're not going away,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at

352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

frontiersman.com.