Frank

Outgoing Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s legacy will not include final plans for a natural gas pipeline, and his potential successors would like it if he would just step aside to let the next governor take up the charge.

Outgoing Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s legacy will not include final plans for a natural gas pipeline, and his potential successors would like it if he would just step aside to let the next governor take up the charge.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski recently signed an administrative order creating a lease monitoring and engineering integrity coordinating office (LMEICO) within the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The LMEICO is charged with coordinating the oil infrastructure oversight efforts of a multitude of state, federal and local agencies stretching from the North Slope fields to the Alyeska marine terminal at Valdez.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski last week signed an administrative order creating a lease monitoring and engineering integrity coordinating office (LMEICO) within the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The LMEICO is charged with coordinating the oil infrastructure oversight efforts of a multitude of state, federal and local agencies stretching from the North Slope fields to the Alyeska marine terminal at Valdez.

Alaska House Speaker John Harris rejected Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s plea that lawmakers return for a third special session, which apparently puts the Alaska natural gas pipeline project on hold until after a new governor is elected in November.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski has written state House leaders to pitch for a third special session to ratify his gas pipeline fiscal contract with a trio of producers before he leaves office. The lame duck governor’s chief of staff said earlier this month that he had dropped plans to call for a third special session (see Daily GPI, Sept. 8).

The chief of staff for lame duck Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski said last week that the governor has dropped plans to hold another special legislative session to try to win support for the tax plan, ownership and other terms of a natural gas pipeline contract with major producers BP plc, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp. for a 4.3 Bcf/d pipeline from the North Slope to the Lower 48 states.

As Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski prepares to pass along to the next governor the results of two years of work on a gas pipeline contract with major producers BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, at least two of the three candidates, Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Tony Knowles, indicated they will start the process with an open competition among multiple pipeline project proposals. The third candidate, Independent Andrew Halcro, favors using the Murkowski negotiated deal as a base but with significant modifications.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski most likely won’t call another special session of the legislature this month to try and move the proposed natural gas pipeline forward, essentially leaving the issue to his successor.