A Citizen’s Guide

JUNEAU–The lead Senate committee studying the proposed gas pipeline contract on Friday voted down the proposal to let the public vote on the contract and scrapped a set of amendments to the Stranded Gas Development Act that Gov. Frank Murkowski needs for the contract to proceed.

The Senate Special Committee on Natural Gas Development abandoned the amendments package on Friday after voting Thursday night against forwarding it to the full Senate.

Frustration was evident among committee members.

The amendments package included proposals to limit the period that tax rates would be frozen, to establish a $1.5 billion financial commitment from the oil companies, and to require that talks be held on the use of project labor agreements.

The committee on Friday did forward a single amendment to lengthen to 120 days the time period the administration has to respond to public comments and make revisions to the proposed contract. Sen. Ralph Seekins, R-Fairbanks, the committee’s chair, said he didn’t know why the bill containing the several amendments failed.

“I’m as confused about that as anybody,” he said.

Lawmakers are considering changes to the act both to give the administration the authority it does not have under the current law and to set parameters regarding what can be included in a fiscal contract to develop North Slope natural gas reserves.

Seekins described the committee’s vote against the amendments as a missed opportunity to give direction to the administration on the contract and said it made it less likely that the Legislature would pass an amendments bill during this special session, which ends Aug. 10.

Murkowski said he also was puzzled by the no vote.

“It’ll be interesting to see what their explanation is,” he said Friday morning at a press conference in Anchorage after it was apparent the package of amendments had been shelved. “It almost looks like they’re deliberately trying to slow this thing down.”

Frustration at the committee’s inability to agree on the package fed into a debate on the proposal by Senate President Ben Stevens, R-Anchorage, to remove the need for Legislative approval of the gas contract and to grant the public the right to vote in lawmakers’ stead. Stevens’ proposal failed 3-7.

Stevens proposed to add his proposal to the stripped-down bill and argued that if the Legislature could not decide on the gas line contract, the public should be allowed to.

“We’re not making progress,” he said.

Stevens and Sens. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel argued in favor of the public vote.

“We have not done our job here,” Hoffman said. “If we won’t make that decision to go forward, then what are we doing?”

Hoffman said he was confident that people would make the right decision and get the gas line built.

Stedman expressed frustration at what he described as stubborn behavior by lawmakers and said he had no hesitation about passing the vote to the public.

“The people I represent are perfectly capable of making the correct decision,” he said. “They’re certainly just as capable as I am.”

Seekins and Sens. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, Kim Elton, D-Juneau, and Donny Olson, D-Nome, spoke against the proposal.

Elton acknowledged the complexity of the issue and said he has done all he can to educate himself about it and has faith in the process lawmakers are following.

“I’m prepared to let that process work out,” he said.

Seekins said he shared Stevens’ frustration at not moving forward and said he often thought, “If we were a business, we’d be bankrupt.”

Seekins said he saw his job of reviewing the contract as a great responsibility and a duty to his constituents.

The one amendment that did pass the committee would increase the time available for review of public comments and revisions of the contract from 30 days to 120 days.

Seekins, who introduced the proposal, said he was concerned that the administration would not have adequate time to review the 2,000-plus public comments received on the contract and could be weakened in its bargaining position with the companies if it had an “artificial boundary” by which to complete negotiations.

The committee also heard the final day of a two-day presentation by the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, whose leaders are trying to convince lawmakers that their competing proposal deserves consideration. The Fairbanks North Star Borough is a member of the port authority, which was created by the borough’s voters and by voters in the city of Valdez and in the North Slope Borough.

Staff writer Stefan Milkowski can be reached at smilkowski@ newsminer.com.