newsminer.com

We’ve heard from TransCanada, ConocoPhillips, and a legislative consultant on the question of whether TransCanada’s gas pipeline proposal would be affected in any way by a liability associated with a consortium formed years ago to build the line. (Withdrawn partners from the project were entitled to a cut if the group ever built a line.)

Now Rep. Ralph Samuels is asking the withdrawn partners themselves -- or in some cases the new parent companies of the withdrawn partners. Samuels recently sent letters to six entities as chair of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, which is overseeing legislative review of gas line proposals. The letters ask whether the companies are willing to waive their rights under the old partnership agreement and whether the corporate structure TransCanada is proposing “violates any obligations” to their companies. (TransCanada contends the new structure means the project will not be affected by the liability, and it has promised not to factor the liability into shipping rates in the event that it did apply.)

The six entities are The Williams Companies, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., Sempra Energy, PG&E Corp., NiSource Inc., and Loews Corp.

On another note, Bill Walker of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority pitched the port authority's plan in a column in the Anchorage Daily News at www.adn.com/opinion/compass.