ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The federal pipeline coordinator of an Alaska natural gas pipeline project announced Monday that she was leaving her position at the request of President Barack Obama.

Drue Pearce said in a statement that Obama had requested her resignation, which is effective Jan. 3.

"I leave an effective and efficient agency with a highly skilled team of professionals actively pursuing our mission." she wrote. "It has been a profound privilege to lead this innovative team."

Pearce, a Republican who was a senior adviser to the secretary of the Interior for Alaska affairs, was nominated by former President George W. Bush to the job in 2006.

A multibillion dollar pipeline tapping the North Slope's vast resources has been a dream of Alaskans for more than three decades, and the issue was a hallmark of Gov. Sarah Palin's administration. Palin pushed through a plan that awarded a state contract to Canadian gas pipeline company TransCanada with a license to develop the North Slope pipeline.

Exxon Mobil, the single biggest holder of gas reserves on the Slope, joined that project this year. They have a target of an initial open season, when producers commit to reserving space in the line, by the end of July 2010.

A competing project, Denali Gas Pipeline, was launched by the other two major gas leaseholders on the Slope, BP PLC and Conoco Phillips.

Both plans envision a pipeline that runs south to interior Alaska and then east to a hub in Canada where gas could be supplied to the Lower 48 states.

Congress ordered the creation of the federal pipeline coordinator position in 2004 as part of legislation designed to speed federal review of the proposed pipeline. According to the 2004 law establishing the job, the coordinator oversees the "expeditious discharge of all activities by federal agencies with respect to an Alaska natural gas transportation project" and ensure that they follow the direction of Congress.

The law also directed the federal coordinator and the state of Alaska to set up a joint surveillance and monitoring agreement like the one used for construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline in the 1970s.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she regrets "the loss of Drue's experience and knowledge on this project, but I understand that it's the president's prerogative to appoint the person of his choosing."

Murkowski and Pearce served together in the Alaska Legislature. Pearce was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1984 from Anchorage and to the Alaska Senate in 1988. She served as Senate president twice.

The state's other U.S. senator, Democrat Mark Begich, thanked Pearce for her years of public service and commended Obama "for bringing new energy to this office and for his commitment to building an Alaska natural gas pipeline, which will deliver affordable, clean-burning energy to America's homes and industries."