Stevens calls for trans-Alaska gas pipeline, exports to Pacific Rim

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Fairbanks News-Miner

Stevens calls for trans-Alaska gas pipeline, exports to Pacific Rim
by Dermot Cole
3 hrs ago

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens says the AGIA pipeline plan has flopped and the state should put up billions to pay half the cost of an in-state natural gas pipeline project to Kenai.

It should also switch its support to the building of a trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez that would export LNG to the Pacific Rim nations, Stevens told Anchorage businessmen at a Commonwealth North meeting Friday.

“Let’s move ahead. We don’t need any more open seasons, we don’t need any more periods for analysis. We need an emphasis on getting the job done,” he said.

This harkens back 35 years to when Stevens was among those in Alaska championing the idea of building a gas pipeline along the oil pipeline route to the coast. The Alaska Highway option eventually won out in the political arena, but failed in the economic arena.



Read more: http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-Stevens+calls+for+all-Alaska+gas+pipeline+for+exports+to+Pacific+Rim%20&id=6707729&instance=blogs_editors_desk

[Judi Lynn]

1. Alaska's Stevens now opposes gas pipeline he promoted

Posted on Saturday, 03.13.10
Alaska's Stevens now opposes gas pipeline he promoted
By Sean Cockerham
Anchorage Daily News

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said Friday there's not enough market for Alaska natural gas in the Lower 48 to justify a pipeline through Canada, and that the state should instead pursue construction of pipelines to Kenai and Valdez to export gas to Asia.

Stevens, giving an Anchorage speech before the public policy group Commonweath North, called for the state to invest half the money it would take to build a multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula. Gas not needed for use in Alaska could be liquefied at an existing plant there, Stevens said, shipped in tankers to countries such as Japan, China, India and South Korea, where he said there's a better market than in the U.S.

Stevens said a bigger pipeline should go to Valdez, long promoted as a potential port for export of liquefied natural gas to Asia. He called on the state to give "emergency power" to an official dedicated to work on making it happen.

The 86-year-old Stevens has made few public appearances since he lost his re-election bid in 2008, shortly after his conviction on federal charges of not properly reporting gifts. The conviction was subsequently overturned by a federal judge.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/13/1528261/alaskas-stevens-now-opposes-gas.html