Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre supports the bill that proposes the state buy TransCanada out of the Alaska LNG Project.
Mayor Navarre: “I am in support of it because I think that whether TransCanada is involved or not, the risks and the costs to the state are the same so I don’t think we need TransCanada in the middle of that. I think it’s a good decision and I think that’s the conclusion that the Legislature will come to as a result of the hearings.”
The Senate Finance Committee forwarded that bill Monday.
Mayor Navarre says there are always pros and cons to having government involved in a large project such as this.
Mayor Navarre: “It’s still going to be a private sector driven project and if we have a piece of it that probably makes some sense and that will certainly be debated and we will find out some additional rational behind that as it progresses through the legislature. There’s a lot of areas still to be debated, including the tax structure.”
He has been highly involved in discussions with the Municipal Advisory Gas Project Review Board regarding the preliminary Payments In Lieu of Taxes(PILT) model.
That Board decided to split the PILT into geographic categories this summer: the gas treatment plant on the North Slope, the LNG facility in Nikiski, and then the pipeline.
The entire Senate will likely vote on the bill this week.
