Alaska’s legislative session ended this week with more of a whimper than a bang, but end it did, say legislative officials.

The end for the Senate came after Parnell pulled one of two remaining issues from consideration, and senators concluded they could not reach agreement on the other.

That led Senators to adjourn “sine die,” or for the final time, on April 26 last week.

Neither body can end the session on its own, however. Under the Alaska Constitution, if the other body does not follow suit within three days, both are automatically back in session.

House leaders abandoned plans to push through their favored natural gas pipeline plan, and Monday joined the Senate in adjourning the special legislative session called by Gov. Sean Parnell last month.

In a post-session press conference, House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, blamed the Senate for failing to pass his bill for a small-diameter natural gas pipeline, often called a “bullet” line.

“The Senate has refused to take up, or consider in a meaningful way, the long-term energy crisis across the state of Alaska,” Chenault said.

The Parnell administration may have made a bad decision when it agreed to settle a long-running case over the valuable Point Thomson oil and gas field on the North Slope, the Senate Judiciary Committee was told Friday.

Gov. Sean Parnell recently announced a settlement between the state and Exxon Mobil Co. of the state’s lawsuit against the field’s owners, trying to force them to develop the field.

“It’s the largest remaining crown jewel on state land,” said Mark Myers, a former director of the Division of Oil and Gas, of the undeveloped field.

Gov. Sean Parnell abandoned his efforts to win oil tax reductions late Wednesday, and lashed out at legislators who fought him through a series of regular and special sessions.

Parnell, after 6 p.m. Wednesday, issued a new special session proclamation removing the oil tax issue from the special session call.

“Given the hardline position of some in the Senate against increasing production from both existing and new fields, the Senate appears incapable of passing comprehensive oil tax reform,” Parnell said in a press release.