The agreement-in-principle includes establishing a joint advisory committee, a protocol to take into account traditional Kaska knowledge, and joint strategies on human resources and environmental management. The future participation agreement will clarify and define the benefits and opportunities the Kaska will receive from the project.
In another development, ConocoPhillips, BP, and ExxonMobil have won approval from the State of Alaska to begin negotiating on state royalty
arrangements for the Alaska Highway pipeline. Negotiations with Alaska started in January, even though the US Senate remains at an impasse over national energy legislation that would include US$18 billion in loan guarantees for the project. Meanwhile, a consortium led by Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, the energy group majority-owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. conglomerate, has filed a rival pipeline proposal. It calls for construction of a US$6.3-billion, 1,200-km, 48-in high-pressure line with a capacity of 4.5bn. cuft/d that would run from the Alaskan North Slope to the Alaska-Yukon border. It would connect to a new 1,600-km line to be constructed by Foothills Pipe Lines and link to TransCanada’s pipeline system that runs to the northern border of the continental US. .
Story courtesy of EnviroLine, Calgary, tel: +1 403 263 3272, email enviroline@shaw.ca.