Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has announced that only one company submitted an acceptable application to build a proposed $26 billion pipeline to ship Alaskan natural gas to the lower 48.  That company is TransCanada Pipelines Limited, one of the world’s largest providers of gas transmission and storage services.

Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday winnowed down a stable of five contenders for a state natural gas pipeline license to one company — TransCanada Corp.

The Calgary-based pipeline giant was the only applicant to meet the state's minimum bid requirements, Palin said.

"We've long stated that it would only take one good application," she said. "We believe today we have that application."
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TransCanada, like a succession of Alaska governors, has for decades pursued a natural gas pipeline to carry the North Slope's enormous gas reserves. Those reserves so far have stayed stuck in the ground due to the enormous cost of a pipeline.

On Friday, TransCanada's proposal for a 1,715-mile, $26 billion pipeline running from the Slope to Alberta became public for the first time.

TransCanada’s application has been deemed acceptable, but that is only one step—albeit an important one—on the road to pipeline construction. Friday’s announcement begins a 60-day public review period after which the state legislature will decide whether to grant a licence and financial incentives to TransCanada.

Even the licence does not guarantee that TransCanada will construct a pipeline.  It means the state of Alaska will provide material and other support in the company’s efforts to fulfill technical requirements and assemble necessary funding for the project.

TransCanada proposes to build a pipeline through Alaska, Yukon, and British Columbia, eventually joining the company’s pipeline hub in Alberta, whence the gas would be shipped to markets in Eastern Canada, the American Midwest and Northeast, and California.

Under the thirty-year-old Northern Pipeline Act, TransCanada (through its wholly-owned subsidiary Foothills Pipeline) was granted an exclusive right-of-way for a pipeline route from the Yukon-Alaska border through Canada.  It is therefore anticipated that receiving approval from Canadian authorities for the Canadian section would present no problems.

A rival proposal from oil giant ConocoPhillips is still in contention because it doesn’t need state assistance to build its pipeline.  Conoco has the advantage of controlling vast quantities of natural gas on Alaska’s North Slope.  TransCanada does not see this as a problem because it has been successful despite owning minimal quantities of oil and gas.  It has always negotiated and worked closely with suppliers.

If the Alaska gas pipeline is built, it would be perhaps the largest private construction project in history.

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