Port Authority looks to revive its bid for gas pipeline contract

ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Gasline Port Authority wants to resurrect its natural gas pipeline proposal, which was rejected by Gov. Sarah Palin's administration.

• Photos

Sound off on the important issues at

In a letter to Palin commissioners, the port authority said its November application was incomplete because of trouble getting project cost and other data from two industry partners that pulled out of the bid.

The authority - a coalition of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the city of Valdez and the North Slope Borough - proposed an 806-mile pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. From there, the gas would be liquefied for transport on tankers.

Pipelines through Canada were proposed by most of the other four applicants vying for a state license and financial incentives.

The Palin administration last week said that only Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada Corp.'s application was completed under terms of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.

In its 10-page letter, port authority chairman Jim Whitaker said his organization supplemented its bid on Dec. 18. He said the state should put the application out for public comment along with TransCanada's.

"The people of Alaska will suffer a grave injustice if the all-Alaska project is not included as an option in the AGIA process," he wrote. Whitaker said the port authority's pipeline project would generate more benefit for Alaska than a pipeline through Canada.

Palin's gas team, in rejecting the port authority's bid, said the supplement was an attempt to "materially change the substance" of the original proposal after the Nov. 30 deadline and it wouldn't be considered.

Bill Walker, the authority's general counsel, said Friday the organization isn't looking for special treatment. The two would-be partners created delays beyond the port authority's control, he said.

"We're not trying to be the spoiler in the process in any way," Walker said.

Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for Palin, said state attorneys would review the port authority's request.