23-04-02 The Alaska House of Representatives has passed a bill authorizing a study of the state building its own gas pipeline from the North Slope to the Lower 48 states.
The bill, sponsored by Representative Jim Whitaker (Republican-Fairbanks) and passed, would create the Alaska Gas Group, a state-owned company whose first job would be to produce a feasibility study on possible construction of such a pipeline.

The study would review specific answers to technical, financial, regulatory and market access questions relating to the pipeline, and would be completed by early 2004. The bill moves next to the Alaska Senate for consideration. After studying a proposed gas pipeline project from the North Slope to the Lower 48 for more than a year, Alaska's three gas producers -- ExxonMobil, BP and Phillips -- have said the estimated $ 15 bn to $ 20 bn cost of the project makes it uneconomical.
"Conservatively, 100 tcf of natural gas is stranded on the North Slope, and the failure to recognize this vital resource as a valuable commodity is in direct conflict with the state constitution's requirement to maximize use of our natural resources to benefit all Alaskans," Whitaker said.