Legislature Passes Interior Gas Trucking Plan

The legislature has approved a plan allowing for natural gas to be trucked from the North Slope down to Fairbanks. It’s seen as a way of bringing down energy costs in the Interior.

The bill creates a $355 million financing package made up of low-interest loans, bonds, credits, and grants to set up a system where private industry would supply natural gas to the region at half the price of heating oil.

Rep. Tammie Wilson, a North Pole Republican, said that the bill would help combat the Interior’s’ pollution problem by giving residents a better energy option than they currently have.

“The reality is we use wood and coal — we burn wood and coal — in the Interior because it is what we can afford to do,” said Wilson.

The bill passed unanimously in the House after sailing through the Senate.