“[Alaska] Governor Sarah Palin [on February 9, 2009] congratulated TransCanada Corporation for receiving an order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that represents another successful step on the path toward construction of a natural gas pipeline under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA)” (FERC Order, 2009, ¶1).
“On December 15, 2008, TransCanada’s subsidiary, the Alaskan Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Company (ANNGTC), informed FERC it was surrendering the conditional certificate issued to it in 1977. On February 6, 2009, FERC issued an order recognizing the surrender of the certificate and terminating the ANNGTC certificate proceedings” (FERC Order, 2009, ¶2).
FERC’s order terminating the ANNGTC proceeding fulfills one of TransCanada’s key commitments to pursue the AGIA project and to officially bring the [32-year] ANNGTC era to a close. It also provides further confirmation of the commissioners’ conclusion that ANNGTC is unlikely to be a significant barrier to the success of TC Alaska’s AGIA project. Notably, none of ANNGTC’s former partners opposed the termination of the ANNGTC certificate proceeding at FERC (FERC Order, 2009, ¶3).
Governor Palin lauded TransCanada and FERC for “[helping to] bring Alaska and the Nation one step closer to providing a secure, abundant, and environmentally responsible source of energy to hungry markets in the United States. I look forward to continuing to work with FERC and all interested parties to continue to move this critical project forward (FERC Order, 2009, ¶4).
The Alaska Gas Pipeline Inducement Act (AGIA) brought an open, transparent process to building a 1,750-mile gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to Alberta, Canada. It will ship 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and be the largest construction project in the history of North America. The pipeline will have the ability to be expanded so as to ship 5.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The pipeline will include six compressor stations and five delivery points in Alaska (FERC Order, 2009, ¶5).
TransCanada operates over 36,000 miles of natural gas pipelines in North America (FERC Order, 2009, ¶6).
Commentary
The AGIA license was signed on December 5, 2008. It is Governor Palin’s brainchild and ended 30 years of malaise surrounding this natural gas pipeline, construction of which is expected to start in 2011 and be completed in 2019. Governor Palin took this pipe dream and is making it a pipeline. In so doing, she demonstrates her expertise as an executive, a project manager, and in the area of energy production, generation, transmission, and distribution. Of all the nation’s governors, only Governor Palin demonstrated this level of success on a project of this scale — even some of our Presidents didn’t accomplish as much — something to ponder as Governor Palin’s 45th birthday draws near. The best is yet to come….
References
Palin congratulates TransCanada on order from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (2009, February 9). State of Alaska, Governor. Retrieved February 10, 2009 from: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=1632
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