North Slope to exit Gasline Port Authority

FAIRBANKS - North Slope Borough officials plan to withdraw from the Alaska Gasline Port Authority.

Chief administrative officer Harold Curran declined to say why North Slope is pulling out until after the borough assembly meets to discuss the matter next month.

The port authority is a partnership formed 11 years ago by the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the North Slope Borough and the city of Valdez to promote an All-Alaska Gasline.

Port authority officials said the pending withdrawal won't disrupt efforts to truck natural gas to Fairbanks by 2012 or to build a gas pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez.

"Nothing's changed," said Valdez Mayor Bert Cottle, the port authority chairman. "The mission of the port authority has been and still remains to get gas to Alaskans. That hasn't changed whether there's two entities or three entities."

The Fairbanks and North Slope assemblies - plus the Valdez City Council - must approve the withdrawal by June 15 before it's final.

Luke Hopkins, the Fairbanks borough mayor and a member of the port authority's board of directors, said the decision is likely linked to the pending project to buy Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC and truck liquefied natural gas to Fairbanks, which deviates from the authority's original mandate to advance a gas pipeline.

Hopkins has been promoting the $250 million trucking project as a way to get gas from the North Slope more quickly as the pipeline project progresses. The project provides little benefit to North Slope Borough.

Though he wouldn't say why the borough is leaving, Curran said the reason is more complex than what was characterized by Hopkins. He added that the port authority has already served its purpose by emphasizing the importance of an in-state gas pipeline.