Publication

On August 27, 2008, the governor of Alaska signed legislation awarding a license to TransCanada Alaska (TransCanada) to permit, develop, and build a natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to the gas market hub in Alberta, Canada, with $500 million of state support. Since the discovery of significant oil and gas reserves in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, Alaska state and federal policymakers have sought to accelerate bringing these important energy resources to market, especially to market in the lower-48 states. The Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) began shipping crude oil from Prudhoe Bay in 1978. Efforts to build a gas pipeline still have achieved little progress 30 years later.