A new group has been organized to examine the impact of Alaska’s potential natural gas pipelines. KDLG’s Chase Cavanaugh has more.
Governor Sean Parnell has named several Alaskans to serve on the Municipal Advisory Gas Project Review Board. It consists of mayors that would be affected by the proposed natural gas pipeline that would deliver product from Alaska’s North Slope to the American Midwest. These individuals include Mayors Charlotte Brower, Luke Hopkins, Clay Walker, Larry DeVilbiss, Dan Sullivan, and Mike Navarre. Other public representatives include Reggie Joule, Robert Venables, and Robert Bartholomew. Revenue Commissioner Angela Rodell will have a leading role on the board, and she says the group’s agenda is quite clear cut.
“We expect this board to really look at existing oil and gas property taxes and make recommendations for possible revisions or needs based on the gas line and to really make that determination of the impact on our local communities with this sizable project.”
At the same time, she says their work is still in the preliminary phase.
“We will be polling the members to find out availability for a kick off meeting and these meetings will be publicly noticed, they’ll be open to the public. Our goal will be on that first meeting to put an agenda together that really walks through the requirements of the group, what the expectations are, and then also to give some background, both in this particular project, as well as in existing oil and gas property tax that the state has on its books, that everybody’s working from the same understanding, the same foundational knowledge, in order to make recommendations going forward.”
Additional information on the Board can be found at Governor Parnell’s website.