A Citizen’s Guide

Sen. Ralph Seekins, who chairs the lead Senate committee considering the proposed natural gas pipeline contract, brought a full-face hockey helmet with him to the afternoon meeting of his committee Friday.

“I’m ready for the round table,” he said.

On Thursday and Friday, the committee heard from officials with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, who laid out a detailed argument on their project economics and viability. The port authority is in a de facto competition with the administration’s proposal for the state’s support.

Seekins’ apparently was given the helmet after he was hit in the head by a puck at a university game.

Bringing the helmet was a joke, of course, and turned out to be unnecessary.

The governor’s lead adviser on oil and gas issues did give a rebuttal to the port authority’s presentation, and legislative consultants questioned one of the group’s claims, but no one really attacked.

Sen. Ben Stevens might have raised his voice the loudest, when expressing frustration that the port authority pitched its project with gusto despite lacking a critical component—the gas.

Stevens, with a tinge of sarcasm, said the port authority offers so much that legislators can’t withhold themselves.

That prompted a gentle plea from Seekins for an orderly debate, but nothing more.