Sen. John Torgerson State Capitol, Room 427 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-2828 Fax: (907) 465-4779

Rep. Joe Green State Capitol, Room 403 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-4931 Fax: (907) 465-4316

Appointees Made to Pipeline Committee

(JUNEAU) - Senate President Rick Halford and Speaker of the House Brian Porter announced the members of the Joint Committee on Natural Gas Pipelines late last week.

Appointees from the Senate are: Senators John Torgerson (R-Kasilof), Rick Halford (R-Chugiak), Pete Kelly (R-Fairbanks) and Johnny Ellis (D-Anchorage). Sen. Donald Olson (D-Nome) was selected as an alternate member. Appointees from the House are: Representatives Joe Green (R-Anchorage), Brian Porter (R-Anchorage), Scott Ogan (R-Palmer) and John Davies (D-Fairbanks). Representatives Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski), Hugh Fate (R-Fairbanks) and Reggie Joule (D-Kotzebue) were selected as alternate members. Sen. Torgerson was selected to chair the committee and Rep. Green was chosen as the vice-chair.

The committee will review and further efforts to commercialize Alaska's North Slope natural gas reserves, and take whatever action may be appropriate to ensure that the best interests of the state are protected. In addition, the committee will represent the Legislature in dealings with the government authorities in Canada and Washington D.C., as well as the governor's office and independent interests. The committee will hold scheduled hearings and hire consultants and experts as needed.

"Technological advances and increased demand have created this window of opportunity to bring our natural gas to market," said Torgerson. "We do not have the luxury of waiting until next January to resume our study of project proposals and how we can facilitate them, so this committee was established to continue working over the interim between legislative sessions."

"The North American Gas Pipeline Group, Yukon Pacific, Foothills, the LNG Sponsor Group and other private interests are all going to be moving forward during the summer and fall to hopefully submit applications for processing our gas," said Torgerson. "It is important not only that the Legislature has a seat at the table, but that we are available over the interim to help this process in any way we can."

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