Governor Bill Walker said today he will still veto the bill to restrict the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation’s pursuit of other gasline projects.
He reasoned that entering negotiations while restricted often complicates the process.
Gov.Walker:”I’m not pleased with the situation I find myself in now with a piece of legislation that basically precludes me from doing much in the way of me with the market, it basically ties my hands in the way of expanding anything on the backup plan that was actually started in 2010, we spent $200 million on a small diameter gas line, started during the process and now it’s at the point that it could be upsized in volume and be a backup plan, take it to the FEED stage, park it and let it sit there.”
Walker added that while the Alaska LNG Project is counting on the growing demand of Asian markets, so are 22 LNG projects in British Columbia.
The governor said he has contacted the highest personnel in each of the companies involved with the project…
Gov.Walker:”They understand why I’m doing it and I’ve explained to them why I’m not doing it, I’m not doing it to compete, I’m not doing it to hurt any other project, I’m doing it to make sure we have two cars on the track not just one, they have 22 in British Columbia I want to at least have two available to us. They all seem to understand that, there hasn’t been a significant push back from that, there’s been some discussion with one more than the other two, and we’ll continue that discussion.”