Our view: Gas line infighting?

He claims in-state gas line coordinator Harry Noah resigned because his efforts were thwarted by other staff who are more keen on the big gas line through Canada. In particular, Ramras complains that key officials on the governor's gas line team seem to have ruled out one in-state option, a bullet line from northern gas fields to Southcentral.

The bullet line has fallen out of favor on its own, not because of any action or inaction by the current administration. Enstar, the Southcentral gas utility, had been bullish on the project. Company officials went so far as to say it could easily finance the project without state aid; they discussed potential construction timelines.

But Enstar's enthusiasm has ebbed, if not disappeared altogether. It got to the point where serious, expensive work would have to start, and Enstar wasn't sure it could start charging today's customers for that work. There is also some question whether the project could get big customers here on the south end. Commitments by big gas buyers are essential to provide economies of scale and make the delivered cost affordable for home users.

Ramras says Noah's efforts to round up those big customers for a bullet line were blocked by the DNR officials.

Gov. Parnell says that's not true. Thursday he told the Daily News it's DNR's responsibility to handle all negotiations involving who might buy the state's royalty gas. He made that point clearly in the instruction letter he sent Noah and the gas line team shortly after taking office this summer. Even with Noah leaving, Gov. Parnell says he's strongly committed to investigate all in-state natural gas options. There's plenty of work to be done checking out the various options.

Gas could come to Southcentral through a stand-alone line from up north, or a spur line off the TransCanada or Denali project. The stand-alone line could follow two different routes: the straight shot along the Parks Highway or the L-shaped route along the Richardson and Glenn highways.

If there's a lot of gas left in Cook Inlet, a pipeline might actually pump gas the other way, up to the Canada-bound pipeline. That would open access to the entire North American market and encourage more drilling here.

With ballpark cost information on the various gas supply options, the state can plan more intelligently. By identifying potential obstacles and obtaining permits in advance, the state could speed up construction on a spur line or a bullet line.

Alaska has an abundance of gas up north; but almost all the state's population lives far to the south. Here in the Railbelt, we're eager for affordable natural gas. The Parnell administration's job is to see if there is a way to get it to us -- and help make it happen.

BOTTOM LINE: The bullet line is falling out of favor, but the Railbelt still has other gas supply options.