A Citizen’s Guide

It’s not “Now or never” for the natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.

That was part of the message this week from John Browne, the chief executive of BP worldwide.

The other, and equally important, part of the message is that all parties involved in the debate over the draft fiscal contract reached by Gov. Frank Murkowski with BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil need to keep working despite the persistent difficulties. It would be a setback, he believes, to lose the momentum that has gathered behind the project.

Mr. Browne, in an hourlong meeting with the Daily News-Miner’s editorial board on Friday, coalesces those two messages into a guiding view that we hope legislators, the governor and BP’s oil industry partners all share: “Determined patience.”

It’s the only approach the public should find acceptable.

A major public policy debate such as the one under way in Juneau over the gas contract should be allowed to unfold naturally and—as difficult as it may be—not be driven by an election calendar that happens to include the governor’s race, most of the legislative seats and, in November, a punitive gas reserves tax. The governor and members of his administration portray the situation as dire: The pipeline agreement must be ratified as soon as possible, they say, thereby putting a premium on expeditiousness rather than on allowing the legislative process to run at its deliberate and beneficial pace.

Rushing the contract, and that’s what’s going on now with a push from the Murkowski administration and its supporters in the House and Senate, can’t be good for Alaska. Mr. Browne even suggested a cooling off period might be helpful.

But will BP still be interested in building a pipeline if the legislative process continues for a few more months, if that’s what the Legislature determines is needed? Yes, Mr. Browne said, adding, however, that “I haven’t seen anything that isn’t imminently soluble” to make an earlier contract signing possible.

Mr. Browne declined to wade into much of a discussion about the natural gas reserves tax, however, which the governor says will kill the gas pipeline project if approved. But he did rightly wonder about its merits. “I question what the policy reason and purpose is.”

What should the Legislature make of Mr. Browne’s comments, which also included some homey advice that the contract process “requires patience and care”? We suggest this: Take the time to get this contract done right, to understand it, and to make sure Alaska is served well—but, please, find a way to get it done.

And legislators can do this knowing that, in at least the view of one of the oil companies, it is not “Now or never” for the pipeline.