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WASHINGTON (AP) - A $25 billion pipeline carrying natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states would play an important role in satisfying the nation's long-term supply needs, but experts say it will not reverse America's rising dependence on imports or cause fuel prices to plunge.
Alaska moved the project to the front burner on Tuesday when it reached a tentative pact with three oil companies to build a pipeline to transport up to 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day — an amount equal to 7 percent of present U.S. demand.
Still, the project could be a decade or more away from completion. Even after an anticipated multiyear design phase, some knotty economic and political issues will need to be hashed out, starting with getting the necessary environmental, right-of-way and construction permits from U.S. and Canadian authorities.
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