The state Legislature has not received details for the legislative special session on the Alaska LNG Project which starts in just over a week.
Speaker of the House Mike Chenault…
Spkr. Chenault(R-Nikiski): “Normally during a special session, like the last one we had or any that I’ve previously been associated with, we’ve had information usually it’s a bill that we had in the legislature that we’ve already heard, we mostly understand it. But for this special session we were told that we would have information a month before special session started. We’ve asked for it.”
Governor Bill Walker listed two agenda topics when he announced the special session: the state’s buyout of TransCanada’s partnership in the proposed gasline and Rep. Chenault would like to know…
Spkr. Chenault(R-Nikiski): “Give us the risks, give us the rewards. Now there is a Black and Veatch study out there that talks about if we buyout TransCanada and we pay our own way that we could save, I believe their number was $9.1 billion. That may be true, but what is the cost.”
The second item is a natural gas reserves tax, which the Speaker says was a surprise since the governor had not stated that item as part of the agenda in a meeting they had a week before the announcement.
Walker says he has always been open about his intentions with the LNG Special Session and has stated that the legislature will receive copies of his proposed bills as soon as the bills are ready.
The Special Session will convene in Juneau on Saturday, October 24.
