May 2011, Vol. 238 No. 5

In The News

Pipeline Office Adds In-depth Reports To Website

The Office of Federal Coordinator for an Alaska natural gas pipeline has added a new feature to its website: In-depth reports on issues related to the project.

Bill White, a former editor at the Anchorage Daily News, has joined the Alaska Office of the Federal Coordinator as a researcher/writer and will author the reports. White was with the Daily News for 27 years, formerly as business editor with extensive experience covering the state’s oil and gas industry.

“White knows oil and gas, the Alaska business community, the project history and most of the players and is a perfect fit for the job,” said Federal Coordinator Larry Persily. “He will research construction and regulatory issues, the project’s history and economics and other topics and prepare reports on a regular basis to help the public better understand all the complexities of this multibillion-dollar undertaking.”

White’s first report takes an in-depth look at precedent agreements negotiated between shippers and natural gas pipeline developers, explaining the process, the divergent interests, the pace of negotiations in other projects (specifically the Wyoming-to-West Coast Ruby gas pipeline), what to expect when the time comes for disclosure of the agreements, and how the Alaska project is unique in federal regulation of such agreements.

Future topics will include provisions requiring mileage-based tariffs for gas delivered by the pipeline to Alaska customers, how other interstate gas pipelines have been developed in recent years, details of the federal loan guarantees for an Alaska line, and the federally required project development consultations with Alaska Native tribes.

Visit www.arcticgas.gov, for updated reports and subsequent articles.