Legislature Passes Gov. Parnell’s LNG Pipeline Plan

The Legislature did pass the Governor’s liquefied natural gas pipeline participation plan.

The House voted 36-4 on the measure Sunday. The Senate later voted 16-4 to agree to the House changes. Senate Bill 138 would set state participation at about 25 percent in a project also being pursued TransCanada, the Alaska Gas-line Development Corp., and the North Slope’s major players. It would allow the project to move to a stage of preliminary engineering and design and cost refinement.

It also would allow the state to negotiate project-enabling contracts but they would have to come back to lawmakers for consideration.