A Citizen’s Guide

Gov. Frank Murkowski sent a letter to lawmakers last night scolding them for considering a tax rate on oil production higher than the 20-20 plan he’s worked out with three oil companies.

The House on Tuesday approved an oil tax of 23.5 percent on oil companies’ Alaska profits, but the Senate quickly rejected it on concurrence.

The Senate previously passed a tax rate of 22.5 percent. Both are higher than the 20 percent tax rate pushed by Murkowski.

The governor said the House rate would kill a related deal with Exxon Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips that the state hopes will lead to construction of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope and into Canada and perhaps Chicago.

The governor said his plan would already double the state’s revenue from oil production and bring it closer to achieving a pipeline project.

“This is a situation in which more is less,” Murkowski wrote in his letter.

It’s now up to a conference committee to come up with a compromise bill. The committee is expected to meet today after the House officially votes not to change its position on the oil tax, which it’s expected to do this morning.

House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, named Reps. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau; Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks; and Ralph Samuels, R-Anchorage; to represent the House on the conference committee.

Sen. President Ben Stevens appointed Sens. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; Charlie Huggins, R-Palmer; and Hollis French, D-Anchorage; to the committee.