The Governor vetoed it. The Legislature is 3 votes short to override it. Or is it? The passion behind House Bill 132 is enough to keep high-stakes in play as the Legislature takes the ball in overtime. House Majority Leader John Coghill expresses cogent arguments, as seen in AK-Pipeline, to override the veto and pass HB 132 that would prevent a competing in-state LNG project, a project he characterized as “taller than Denali.”
Respectfully, Gov. Bill Walker, with the best of intentions, has proposed “up-sizing” the Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline project, ASAP, as leverage for prospective negotiations with producers in the Alaska liquefied natural gas project, AKLNG.
On its face that “sounds good.” Unfortunately, up-sizing ASAP may result in significant negative consequences.
As we listened to testimony this session, a few themes developed: 1. the State, if Governor Walker continues on his path, may itself become a “risk factor” for alignment with AKLNG, and 2. if the State pursues two projects at once, it may likely undermine both projects.
What happens when there are two large projects at the same time?
When we compare the AKLNG project and a prospective “up-sized” ASAP project side-by-side, what do we see?
When compared side by side we can see the risks don’t stay the same. In fact, the risk to both are exacerbated by the existence of the other.
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