Show Notes

• Archived Blog Post

  Date / Time: 7/12/2008 5:00 AM UTC

  Bullet line provides political cover..But it's total bs
  

   

   

  If the true motive behind Gov. Sarah Palin’s surprise announcement of a reversible “bullet” line to move affordable gas from Cook Inlet to Fairbanks were not so obvious, her plan merely would look ridiculous.

   

  

  Jenkins

  Instead, it looks calculated and cynical.
  
  All her posturing about a new gas line was aimed at reassuring skittish Railbelt legislators that something is being done to help cut their constituents’ skyrocketing energy bills; that it is OK to vote “yes” on her Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. She also is trying to blunt criticism that she is focusing only on peddling Alaska’s gas Outside.
  
  Some legislators, the smarter ones, are getting cold feet about AGIA. No wonder. It would hand the state’s hand-picked company, TransCanada, a state “license” to seek Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval for a $30 billion gas pipeline from the North Slope to carry gas south — despite the fact the company has no gas.
  
  The brighter lawmakers are itchy about forking over to TransCanada $500 million as part of the “license” they are being asked to approve, and they are more than wary about the treble damages . . .

  that could be levied if Alaska decided in the future to change horses and pursue a better deal for the state with another company. The treble damages could kick in under AGIA if the state were to help any other pipeline entity with moving more than 500 million cubic feet of gas per day. To neatly skirt that, Palin says her line would only move 460 million cubic feet a day.
  
  Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips and BP have started their own multibillion-dollar gas line, known as Denali, and are charging ahead without Palin and company, with FERC already agreeing to work with them.  
  
  Palin says the state, the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority and Enstar Natural Gas Co. will join in a “public/private partnership” to build the new line — even if Enstar, already considering a $3.3 billion line from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska along the Parks Highway — appears a little befuddled by her assertion.
  
  Palin’s idea, along with diverting attention from AGIA, is to build a line from Cook Inlet to Fairbanks, and then beyond to the North Slope, if necessary. The line would reach Fairbanks by 2013, Palin says.
  
  That calls to mind all kinds of questions:
  
  • How did Palin, a staunch proponent of clear and transparent government, arrive at this “deal” cobbled together two weeks ago, without anyone knowing? Former Gov. Frank Murkowski caught unbridled hell from the news media and others when he negotiated behind closed doors with the oil industry. Palin was one of those complaining.
  
  • Who will pay for the line if there are no contracts for gas, or buyers, or even any gas? How much will it cost? Those answers obviously are: the state, and a bundle.
  
  • Where will the gas for the line come from? There is not enough gas now available in Cook Inlet for such a project and even her administration admits that is true. It is anticipated that Anchorage and surrounding environs will be running out of gas in a few years. Are we to believe Palin actually plans to build the line in five years, have new gas on line, and move it to Fairbanks? That does not seem likely.
  
  Are we then to believe she plans to drain the Cook Inlet Basin, send that gas north to save Fairbanks and hope enough is discovered and put into production in Cook Inlet, or perhaps the North Slope, within five years to take care of Southcentral Alaska’s needs? Talk about betting on the come — and what about the Kenai Peninsula?
  
  • Where would the bullet line actually go? Enstar wants to go one way; Palin another. Where will construction start? Enstar was looking north; Palin south.
  
  And just think; all of this embarrassing nonsense is aimed at nothing more than winning over votes from lawmakers who are starting to see the handwriting on the wall. Make no mistake, if there is money to be made on something like a bullet line, private industry will get the job done. The state should get out of the way.
  
  What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing more than an addle-pated scheme to provide political cover for lawmakers considering yet another addle-pated scheme that eventually could cost the state billions.
  
  It’s business as usual in the clear and transparent Palin administration; the usual smoke and mirrors. And it is happening right now because a decision on AGIA, one way or the other, is close at hand.
  
  Let’s pray the Legislature is not as dumb as Palin would hope.

  
  

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  • bull sh*t line
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