A Citizen’s Guide

Many lawmakers have questioned why the proposed gas contract does not specifically prohibit the major producers—ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips—from pushing an “over the top” pipeline project.

Exxon has long favored a route across the top of Alaska to hook into a pipe being planned for Canada. State law prohibits such a project, but state law can be changed.

Jim Clark, Gov. Frank Murkowski’s chief of staff, said the description of the project in the contract specifies that the pipeline be built along the Alaska Highway.

Going over the top would be a total breach of the contract, Clark said.

“If they attempted to do it, we would seek all legal means outside of the contract to stop it,” he said.

While the terms of the draft contract protect the producers from almost every other legal challenge, the contract doesn’t indemnify them if they try to build a project other than the one sanctioned by the state, Clark said.

Some lawmakers have raised concerns, though, about language in the contract that allows the producers to change the definition of the project with the state’s approval.