This was the question at the heart of the VECO scandal.
Basically, the gas is a huge asset the oil companies control. Alaskans are desperate for this resource to be developed, so the oil companies use that control against the legislature to try and sweeten the deals they get.
It seems that when the VECO scandal erupted, Palin came in and backed one of the long-time second-tier players - TransCanada (largest shareholder Calgary's Home Oil) - and pushed through a half-billion dollar subsidy to try and get the pipeline started.
A former TransCanada lobbyist was a leader of her team.
The pipeline will requiremany subsequent subsidies and take decades, as proposed. Palin's process produced only one bid to be considered at the end - TransCanada's - and so rather than being a reformer, Palin seems to be an opportunist who was able to pull a project out of Alaska politics' murky depths just long enough for a photo-op - like some huge, deformed Northern Pike.
On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 12:41 PM, boddi satva <lbo.boddi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Alaska Pipeline the Power Poker Chip
>
> http://www.financialpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=756796
>
> ... seemingly endless negotiations over a proposed pipeline that this
> time would bring natural gas from the North Slope to the rest of the
> United States..... With Alaskan oil production on the decline, natural
> gas would keep the state's coffers flush. Jobs and cheaper fuel for
> Alaskans would be part of the package.
>
> ....there is enough gas trapped under the tundra here to help the
> United States fend off an energy crisis that politicians have called
> one of the greatest threats to their country. Sarah Palin, Alaska's
> governor and, as of yesterday, the Republican vice-presidential
> nominee, wants to get it out of the ground as soon as possible.
>
> But before that can happen, Alaska must resolve a $30-billion battle
> that pits Ms. Palin against energy giants BP PLC and ConocoPhillips
> Inc., two pillars of the state's economy. Calgary-based TransCanada
> Corp., Canada's largest pipeline company, is caught in the middle,
> enjoying legislative and some financial support from the state to
> build the 2,670-kilometre-long line that would ship four billion cubic
> feet of gas a day beginning in 2018.
>
> But TransCanada is up against a rival pipeline project that would be
> built by BP and Conoco, the very oil companies TransCanada needs as
> its customers. Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest corporation,
> potentially holds the power to crown a winner by virtue of its
> sizeable gas production, but it has not yet picked a side.
>
> It is a political poker game, and even though all the major parties
> say they are willing to work with one another, there is a plethora of
> ways they could stonewall the process.
>
>
> http://www.financialpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=756796
>