Gas-line group board seeks clarity on confidentiality pacts

  • Saturday, January 10, 2015 11:03pm
  • News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The board of the state corporation expected to be a key player in efforts to advance a major liquefied natural gas project in Alaska is trying to determine how it can operate if members do not sign confidentiality agreements.

On Tuesday, as part of a shake-up that included the removal of three board members, Gov. Bill Walker instructed the two state commissioners on the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.’s board to not sign such agreements in a bid to have the board operate more transparently.

At a meeting Thursday, board chairman John Burns said he had asked the corporation’s attorney and state attorney general to analyze the impact on the board’s work if new members do not sign the pledge.

Dan Fauske, president of the gas-line corporation, also known as AGDC, said a confidentiality pledge is needed because information is shared between the two gas-line projects being pursued by AGDC — the liquefied natural gas project and a stand-alone in-state gas pipeline — to reduce costs.

The state and companies might provide proprietary details to each other that should be kept confidential, such as the best pipeline components, composition of the gas or facility costs, he said. “You use that data to come out in a public hearing and provide good information, because you used that data to back up the assumptions you made during your analysis,” Fauske said.

State labor commissioner Heidi Drygas said not signing the agreement creates a predicament. But Drygas said she is confident there will be a way forward that allows board members to be fully engaged. The board also approved plans to cut spending by $90 million during this year and next. The groundwork for the cuts was laid ahead of Walker’s recent directive to halt new spending on the in-state gas line project and other big-ticket projects, Fauske said.

The in-state line was initiated five years ago as a way to get North Slope gas to Alaskans after efforts to advance a major gas line project appeared to stall. But the focus of the major gas-line project has shifted, from one that would serve North American markets to one that would be capable of overseas exports. The in-state line has been cast as the state’s backup plan, in case the larger project falters. But Walker, who took office last month, is evaluating how or whether to proceed with the in-state project. Information is being shared between the two projects to reduce duplication of efforts and save money, Fauske said. The stand-alone pipeline will focus on refining engineering and design work over the coming months as it waits for the partners in the larger project to decide in 2016 if they will advance the effort.

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read