Weighing in on the Alaska pipeline debate and whether government subsidies for Alaska gas production is warranted, Jim Antoine, Minister of Resources Wildlife and Economic Development for the Northwest Territories said treaties, agreements and statutes identified to support gas development 25 years ago are no longer applicable to today’s discussions surrounding an Alaska natural gas pipe. On Sept. 17, Antoine formally asked federal Minister of Natural Resource Herb Dhaliwal to look into the legal status of the 25-year-old agreements.

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergin, urged Congress Wednesday to reject the Alaska pipeline route restrictions that were approved last week by the Energy Conference Committee as part of the energy bill (see Daily GPI, Sept. 13). Speaking at RBC Financial Group’s Distinguished Speakers Series at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, the ambassador also expressed Canada’s opposition to proposed subsidies for Alaskan gas production (see Daily GPI, Sept. 19). A vote on the subsidies and other tax-related provisions has been delayed by the committee.

In the past, Dhaliwal has warned American lawmakers in favor of subsidies for the development of Alaskan gas that a pipeline will not pass through Canada without the support of the Canadian government. Each time, Antoine said officials and legislators have suggested that Canadians are already “handcuffed” by the 1977 treaties.

“The Alaskan gas project is not the same, ” Antoine argued. “The natural gas industry has been transformed and age-old understandings regarding the role of private financing versus public guarantees are being challenged as I speak. Canada did not agree to these conditions 25 years ago. We are certainly not bound by them now.”

The request for validation comes as the United States Congress currently considers subsidies to favor the development of an Alaskan gas pipeline instead of the more cost-effective Mackenzie Valley proposal. “We are by no means restrained from responding to an ill-advised measure proposed by the American Congress,” Antoine added.

While Canadian and U.S. politicians jockey back and forth, FERC Chairman Pat Wood is just itching to start the certification process on an Alaska pipeline. “One of them [items on his to-do list] was to get that damned pipeline certificated, and I’m a year down folks, and I’m looking forward to [an] application on our desk so we can get to work,” he said during the Natural Gas Roundtable in Washington, DC, Thursday.

Wood, who has a background in civil engineering, acknowledged the pipeline project will be mammoth in scope. It will be “probably the biggest civil engineering project since the pyramids.”

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.