As Alaska's new governor pushes to meet a self-imposed deadline to provide details on her administration's process to evaluate natural-gas-line proposals by the end of February, Alaskan legislators are raising questions about the newest plan for a natural gas pipeline. Experts say the proposal is politically popular, but it will never get built.

On Feb. 7, Harold Heinze, CEO of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority (ANGDA) outlined a way to bring gas from the North Slope to southern Alaska for $5 billion in a presentation for Alaska's Senate Resources Committee. It could send 1.25 billion cu ft of natural gas daily through a 24-in. pipeline from the North Slope to Glennallen. There the main pipe would divide into two smaller lines, with one going to Cook Inlet and the other to a liquefying plant in Valdez.

The proposal drew questions from state senators about the project¹s limited scope. "Some have asked why you wouldn't use a larger pipe and run the export out of Cook Inlet," asked State Sen. Thomas Wagoner (R).

In response, Heinze characterized the ANGDA plan as 'minimalist.' "The feedback we've gotten is no one has suggested a smaller project and we thought it was a way to get the process started," he said.

The ANGDA proposal comes out of a December meeting with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). ANGDA is one of 12 groups interested in building a gas pipeline that have met with the governor since December.

Heinze is seeking $5 million for a concept study to flesh out the plan. The state will pony up some funding for the study, but the plan won't go any farther than that, according to Larry Persily, former Alaska deputy revenue commissioner.

"It would move so little gas, as a standalone project, it's just not economic," he observes. Even so, he says it's a politically popular project since it promises cheap gas for Alaskans.

Alaska's Revenue Commissioner Patrick Galvin calls one aspect of the ANGDA gas line proposal exciting, but says it will be evaluated through a process now being developed by the Palin Administration. "This one's exciting in that it explores the LNG option, but it will be looked at through a process we're now working on," he says.

A recent report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission characterized Alaska¹s work on the gas line as off-track: "The federal government is ready to act. However, no pipeline application has been developed, and the prospects of an application are more remote than a year ago. Over the past year, the schedule for an Alaska gas pipeline has slipped considerably."