the gas line's last chance

and it opened with four lawmakers in the building.

This is the third special session on the gas line, and it's the governor's last one. He leaves office in December, so whatever gets done has to get done now.

Here's what's actually on the table for us. The bill that already cleared the Senate would hand the lead developer a multibillion dollar property tax break. In exchange, the company put a few things back on our side of the ledger.

Tens of millions in payments to the towns construction runs through. A commitment to build a spur line up to Fairbanks. Union labor agreements meant to keep the jobs in Alaska. And a cap on what homes pay for gas, though that cap sits around fifty percent above what Southcentral pays right now.

The fight isn't over any of that. It's over a corporate income tax the bill would put on private oil and gas companies, including Hilcorp, while exempting the lead developer from it. That one piece sank the whole thing.

The House speaker put it plainly. The clock is ticking loudly, and the governor knows it.

Monday's session was technical only. Three House members, one senator, and no new proposal from the governor's office to look at yet.

That's where a project we've been promised for fifty years currently sits.