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Denali’s Bud Fackrell was in Juneau today pitching his pipeline project, and lawmakers didn’t let him off easy. It took 45 minutes to get through the first slide of his PowerPoint.

How many new people have you hired? Where’s your office? Is your project a sham?

Fackrell mostly stayed calm, responding to the most aggressive questions with, “Thank you for the question.”

The biggest line of questioning involved which of the 20 “must-have” requirements in AGIA Denali is willing to commit to. The requirements deal with how the project is financed, built, and expanded, among other things.

Fackrell committed to a few. Rates will be distance-sensitive in Alaska, and the pipeline will solicit interest in pipeline expansion every two years, he said.

But even then, the commitments had caveats. Lawmakers and Fackrell went back and forth about whether Denali would for sure solicit interest or was only planning to. (Fackrell said in the end that they would for sure, but didn’t directly commit to expanding the pipeline if there was interest.)

Fackrell did not commit to the debt-equity ratio under AGIA, which was aimed at keeping shipping costs low.

Fackrell repeated a number of times Denali’s commitment to moving ahead with the project, spending $40 million this summer and $600 million to get to open season.

"I'm not asking you to trust me," he said. "I'm asking you to watch me."

When asked, he expressed concerns about approving a pipeline license for TransCanada under AGIA, and he warned that going with TransCanada could jeopardize the whole project.

At times, it seemed unclear who Fackrell was speaking for, and how Denali related to ConocoPhillips and BP. Fackrell touted the experience and financial might of the parent companies, but refused to address the fiscal concessions they might seek. (The producers are scheduled to testify tomorrow.)

Of course, the big news of the day was the indictment of Sen. John Cowdery. A good chunk of the bipartisan Senate majority disappeared after the announcement, and the group held a caucus meeting over lunch to discuss the issue.