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On the day a special legislative session began to consider tax incentives for a long-desired pipeline to carry natural gas from the North Slope to markets, Gov. Mike Dunleavy insisted that the massive project is about to become reality.
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“It’s gone from concept to discussion to, now, execution,” Dunleavy told the audience Thursday at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage.
All that it will take to start “the most transformational, generational project this part of the world has ever seen” is a shift away from the state’s petroleum property tax system, Dunleavy said.
The governor has called lawmakers into a special session to pass a bill imposing sweeping changes in the property tax system that has been the main source of revenue for several Alaska local governments. Under his proposal — which lawmakers failed to approve before the end of the just-concluded regular session — the state and local governments would eliminate 90% of the property tax that would be levied on gasline-related infrastructure in exchange for future opportunities to tax natural gas as it moves through the yet-to-be-built system.
The founder and chief executive officer of the company proposing to build the gas pipeline system urged conference attendees to lobby for the governor’s bill.
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“Please talk to your mayors, your elected officials, your legislators, your community leaders, your union leaders and get them behind any rally here to call to arms. Let’s get this thing over the line,” said Brendan Duval, the CEO of the Glanfarne Group.
Action by the legislature is one of the last pieces needed to proceed to a final investment decision, Duval said.
A few blocks from the Deni’ina Civic and Convention Center, where the conference was held, energy and environmental experts detailed reasons to be wary about Glenfarne’s plan.
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