A Citizen’s Guide

Gov. Frank Murkowski isn’t giving up hope of passing a gas pipeline contract before his term ends in December.

According to Jim Clark, the governor’s chief of staff and chief pipeline negotiator, Murkowski hasn’t ruled out calling another special legislative session to work on the proposed contract despite the disapproval of House members and an ongoing federal investigation involving lawmakers.

“From our perspective, there’s every reason to move forward,” said Clark, who argued that time was not on the state’s side.

Murkowski said Wednesday that he would call lawmakers back to Juneau on Sept. 19 as long as House and Senate leaders thought the session would be productive.

House members were to be polled individually on their willingness to move forward. Senators, according to Clark, had made their demands clear through committee work done during the last special session–don’t call us back before significant changes to the proposed contract are made and the agreement forming the joint pipeline company, or LLC, is completed.

“We’re certainly not going to do it over the Legislature’s objections,” Clark said Friday.

But support among lawmakers is slim.

After polling their members, House Majority Leader John Coghill, R-North Pole, and Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, decided Thursday to advise against holding another session, Coghill said. Harris said he told Clark on Friday that members of the House did not support going back for what would be the year’s third special session.

The federal investigation that broke Thursday offered lawmakers another reason to stay home. Coghill questioned how legislators whose offices had been raided could be asked to vote on the pipeline contract. Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, said squeezing a special session in before the November election, especially with the investigation going on, would be a “terrible idea.”

Their disapproval hasn’t stopped the administration. Clark argued Friday that if the contract isn’t passed now, the whole process would be delayed “several years” because of the change of administration and expected litigation over a ballot initiative to tax undeveloped natural gas reserves.

The general election is Nov. 7, and a new governor will be sworn in Dec. 4.

Clark said the administration proposed to bring in several lawmakers as “observers” while the state tried to renegotiate the proposed contract with BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil. If the state and companies reached an agreement that satisfied the lawmakers, the administration would proceed with the special session. If not, it wouldn’t.

For the special session to begin Sept. 19, the governor would have to call it Monday–15 days notice is required–with the option of canceling it later, according to Clark. The negotiations would happen next week.

Willingness for the plan is mixed.

Harris said Friday afternoon that he had agreed to try to assemble a working group of House members.

Coghill said he had opposed the plan in an evening meeting with Clark.

“I told him I thought the timing was bad,” he said, adding that he was worried the administration would go ahead with another session if the work group succeeded at making one small revision.

Coghill said he was under the impression that if House members were opposed to working on the contract, the administration wouldn’t force them to.

“Now (Clark) wants one more last shot at it,” he said.

Staff writer Stefan Milkowski can be reached at smilkowski@newsminer.com or 459-7577.