Program to Let Alaskans Buy Into the Gas Pipeline Is on Hold, $2.5 Million Short

A plan to let ordinary Alaskans buy into the state's gas pipeline is on hold for want of $2.5 million, according to the president's report presented to the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation board of directors on Thursday, Sept. 3.

The report lists what the program would cost to run: $700,000 for legal work, $300,000 for financial advisors, $800,000 for a platform provider, $250,000 for information technology support and $450,000 for a communications firm. Beneath the list is a single line: "Major elements of program on hold until funds are acquired."

What the June report proposed

The June 25 president's report gave the board five slides on an investment offering built around AGDC's option to take between 5 and 25 percent of the Phase 1 pipeline, a minimum of $200 million and a maximum of $1 billion. Qualified investors would buy tokens, each representing a unit of preferred equity return: a set annual payout made ahead of ordinary owners, which AGDC said would not expose the buyer to project risk. The June report described a 90 day offering period, first distributions in 2029 and annual preferred return distributions of 8 percent.

The June document named who could buy: AGDC itself through legislative appropriation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, Alaska Native corporations, Alaska companies and individual Alaskans. It described MyAlaska integration to validate residency and a potential tie to Permanent Fund dividend investment.

On June 25 the directors passed Resolution 2026-001 by roll call, seven to nothing. The resolution authorized a wholly owned subsidiary under Alaska law, to be called Alaska Gas Pipeline Investment, LLC, formed in part to develop, hold and manage the program. AGDC's directors serve as its entire governing body. Frank Richards, AGDC's president, is its initial manager and is authorized to set its initial capitalization.

Thursday's report contains no mention of tokens, of the 8 percent, of MyAlaska, of the eligibility list or of the subsidiary by name. It does keep a state equity section listing "Optional State equity investment opportunities, including for Alaskans to invest" among AGDC's focus areas. In June the Phase 1 pipeline tranche was listed as available in 2026/2027. In September it is listed as available in 2027.

The tax bill that did not pass

Three special sessions of the Alaska State Legislature ran from May 21 to June 19, June 20 to July 16, and July 27 to August 26. No legislation passed both bodies. Alaska's oil and gas property taxes remain at the rate set in AS 43.56.010, which levies 20 mills on full and true value, or $20 per $1,000 of assessed value, for tax years beginning January 1, 1974. The report calls that an order of magnitude higher than jurisdictions successfully developing LNG projects. It states the consequence in one line: lack of legislative relief on property taxes will delay schedule and add costs.

The bill that would have changed the rate, House Bill 381, came from House Rules by request of the governor. The House passed its version 34 to 5 on June 12 and the Senate passed an amended version 12 to 8 on June 19. The House refused to concur and the Senate refused to recede, so a conference committee of Representatives Schrage, Edgmon and Ruffridge and Senators Hoffman, Stedman and Cronk took it up. The Senate adopted the committee's compromise 11 to 8 on July 16. The House rejected it the same day on a 19 to 19 tie, the last day of the second special session.

Its sections would have made AGDC a fiduciary of the state, required competitive bidding in its procurement, capped the price of gas to utilities at $16 per million British thermal units with inflation adjustment, barred utility customers from carrying cost overruns, required the Legislature to approve by law before the state exercised any investment option, and required AGDC to offer municipalities a share of anything the state did not take.

The Commerce Department's fiscal note on the Senate version asked for $3.06 million in operating money for AGDC in fiscal 2027. The column headed Included in Governor's FY2027 Request reads 0.0.

The project moved ahead regardless

The project itself continued, and the September scorecard credits each step to the developer, Glenfarne. AGDC describes its own role as the 25 percent minority owner of 8 Star, the venture that holds the project. The scorecard records gas sales precedent agreements, which are advance commitments to supply Phase 1 pipeline gas, with Pantheon Resources, ExxonMobil and Hilcorp, and letters of intent with Enstar, Chugach Electric and Donlin Gold. Front end engineering design, the detailed design work done before a final investment decision, is complete for the Phase 1 pipeline and beginning for Phase 2. The report lists an engineering, procurement and construction management agreement with Worley, conditional awards to build each spread, or construction section, of Phase 1, and preliminary line pipe agreements with Corinth Pipeworks and Europipe. AGDC spending for all of fiscal 2026 is listed at about $4.5 million.

This account rests on documents AGDC published for its own board: the two president's reports, the June minutes, Resolution 2026-001 and the September agenda, together with the Legislature's own record of House Bill 381.

The June minutes record "EXECUTIVE SESSION: None." Thursday's agenda lists an executive session between the president's report and public comment, and gives no subject. Under AS 44.62.310, a motion to enter executive session must describe the subject clearly and with specificity, and no action may be taken there beyond directing an attorney or labor negotiator. The minutes of the September meeting have not been published.