newsminer.com

As lawmakers consider backing TransCanada’s gas line plan, former Gov. Wally Hickel is fiercely fighting for an “all-Alaska” line like the port authority's.

Earlier this week, Hickel publicly urged lawmakers to vote no on TransCanada. Now he’s warning them he will take out an ad in Alaska newspapers after the AGIA vote showing who voted yea and nay.

“Which column will your name be in?” he wrote to lawmakers. “The column of those who want Alaska to retain control of our natural gas? Or the column of those who are prepared to allow Canada to take control of this resource worth billions of dollars?”

Some lawmakers are not happy with the former gov.

A few things of note:

Hickel seems to criticize TransCanada for representing a foreign country, but the port authority has just partnered with Mitsubishi, a Japanese company, and plans to sell Alaska’s gas to Japan and other Asian countries.

It’s unclear how rejecting TransCanada would improve the port authority’s chances of success. Before AGIA, the port authority struggled for years because it couldn’t get any gas from North Slope producers. I can’t imagine that would be any different now, unless possibly if the state stepped in and somehow forced it. So far, the state (and its many consultants) have concluded an “all-Alaska” line isn’t as good a deal for the state as a line through Canada. Without state support, it’s more likely the producers would back their own Denali project (which includes BP, a British company).

There’s also the question of whether the port authority would be able to get the federal approval needed to sell gas to Asia. Sen. Ted Stevens yesterday basically said no.