The Honorable Bryce Edgmon
Speaker of the House
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Mr. Speaker:
The House Minority Caucus requests that you convene the House of Representatives to hear and vote on the Governor’s gasline bill before this special session expires.
Yesterday, your leadership team issued a public statement declaring that intractable differences had emerged and that HB 4001 lacks the votes to pass. That was a statement from a caucus. It was not the vote of this body. Forty members were elected to decide questions of this magnitude on the record, and not one of us has been given that chance.
That same statement said support for AKLNG is not in question and that the Legislature’s support has not wavered. We take you at your word. If that is accurate, a hearing costs the Majority nothing. Bring the bill up, allow amendments in public, and record every member’s position so Alaskans can see it.
This House has already shown where it stands. In June, it passed a focused bill replacing property tax structure with a volumetric tax on gas moving through the line, 34 to 5. What failed on July 16 was a different document. It grew from seven pages to forty-five. It carried a targeted pass-through entity income tax that the Governor had publicly called a dealbreaker. Our caucus member on the conference committee received the final version an hour before the meeting that adopted it. Requests for Department of Revenue analysis were refused. Members were then asked to vote the same day. Nineteen of us declined to rewrite Alaska’s tax code in an afternoon. That vote protected the project. It did not oppose it.
Every objection raised since has been answered. On July 23, Hilcorp Alaska wrote to every member of this Legislature. Hilcorp operates Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson, the fields expected to supply essentially all of the gas this project depends on. The company warned that the pass-through tax raises the cost of producing that gas, that exempting the project itself cures nothing because the cost moves upstream into the same value chain, and that the measure would pull capital out of Cook Inlet drilling at a time when Southcentral utilities are already facing shortfall. Glenfarne has been equally direct that the property tax structure determines whether it can finance construction at all. The Governor has put forth a gallant attempt at compromise that should not be unilaterally dismissed.
There is nothing left to negotiate. What remains is a calendar decision, and it belongs to you. Alaskans are watching Cook Inlet decline while their utilities price imported gas. Delay is not a neutral act. It raises the cost of every alternative, weakens Alaska’s standing with the lenders and buyers this project requires, and reaches families as higher heating bills this winter. If the Majority believes the Governor’s bill is bad policy, then say so with a vote and defend it.
We respectfully request three things:
- Gavel the House into session;
- Refer the Governor’s bill for expedited hearing, with full Department of Revenue analysis made available to members before any vote; and
- Schedule a floor vote before this session expires.
We will be in Juneau on your call, and we will work on any amendment offered in good faith that keeps this bill focused on advancing the Alaska LNG Project. What we will not accept is a bill of this consequence dying in a press release.
Respectfully,
On behalf of the members of the Alaska House Minority Caucus
Representative Kevin McCabe
Representative Jeremy Bynum
Representative Julie Coulombe
Representative Bill Elam
Representative Elexie Moore
Representative Justin Ruffridge
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
Representative Frank Tomaszewski
Representative Steve St. Clair
Representative Jubilee Underwood
Representative Sarah Vance
Representative Garret Nelson
Representative DeLena Johnson
Representative David Nelson
Representative Dan Saddler
Representative Mike Prax
cc: Governor Mike Dunleavy
President Gary Stevens, Alaska State Senate
Members of the Alaska House of Representatives