Hearings will continue throughout the week as Lawmakers work to discern whether TransCanada should be awarded the license to build a natural gas pipeline. Photo courtesy SuprerViewer cgrande. Click here to view the original.
Story Created:
Jun 5, 2008 at 12:12 PM AKDT
Story Updated:
Jun 5, 2008 at 12:12 PM AKDT
The first day of hearings on Governor Sarah Palin's gas pipeline proposal wrapped up in Juneau on Wednesday. Throughout the day lawmakers posed questions to economists and engineers hired by the Legislature to analyze the TransCanada proposal.
A second round of hearings is scheduled for Thursday, where lawmakers will continue where they left off. Currently the Legislature is spending its time making financial comparisons between the TransCanada proposal and the ConocoPhillips and BP independent pipeline.
The BP/Conoco competing project did not meet the state's Alaska Gas Inducement Act requirements. To get around this, the two companies have chosen to pursue their project independently of the state, which would only require the authorization of the federal government.
The special session being held in Juneau will only determine whether Lawmakers back or reject Palin's recommendation that TransCanada be awarded a license toward pipeline certification and construction.
Along with economic considerations, lawmakers explored such issues as the destination of the gas, transportation costs, and the project's presumed effects on soaring energy costs.
Hearings will continue through to next Tuesday, at which point lawmakers will embark on hearings in other communities in the three weeks that follow.
