House Resources Committee revises governor’s Alaska LNG bill, seeking more revenue An Alaska House committee has made significant changes to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s bill for the Alaska LNG megaproject, proposing a smaller tax break designed to generate more revenue for local communities and the state. The new measure in the House Resources Committee, which passed Monday without objection, comes after the Senate Resources Committee last week adopted its own substitute bill that seeks to raise the most revenue of the three proposals. Dunleavy introduced his measure in March, seeking to support the project by replacing state and local property taxes with a much smaller “alternative volumetric tax” based on the amount of gas flow. Resources committees in both chambers have spent weeks studying Dunleavy’s bill before presenting their substitutes, with the idea that a break on property taxes could help quickly bring the project to fruition. Project officials have said they could start laying pipe this year, though there has been no final investment decision approving construction. Alaska LNG is the latest version of several projects that over the last half-century have tried to tap the state’s vast stores of natural gas on the remote North Slope. The project’s high cost has always been a barrier. It’s currently estimated at $46 billion, though critics believe it will be far more expensive. The project proposes shipping natural gas in an 800-mile pipeline for use in Southcentral Alaska starting in 2029. Project backers say a gas treatment plant and a gas liquefaction plant would be built next so gas can also be exported overseas to big Asian buyers, starting in 2031. Alaska leaders consider the project important for the state’s future economic growth.#alaska_house_resources_committee #mike_dunleavy #alaska_lng #north_slope_borough #kenai_peninsula_borough
