End of the line for Bill Walker

May 18, 2010: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has denied Yukon Pacific’s request for more time to start building its long-proposed liquefied natural gas facility at Anderson Bay near Valdez, Alaska.

In doing so the FERC has essentially nullified GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Walker's entire platform by giving official notice that the permits currently held are no longer valid.

Walker has campaigned on a natural gas pipeline that would run gas to Valdez and subsequently be shipped to Asia markets. He has stated time and time again he has the necessary permits to make the plan happen and he'll be breaking ground in just three years, but FERC's ruling closes the door on Walker's idea.   

“Thus after May 22, 2010, your authority to construct and operate an LNG export terminal at the Anderson Bay site will no longer be valid,” wrote Jeff Wright, director the FERC’s Office of Energy Projects, in a letter dated May 14 to Yukon Pacific’s attorney.

The FERC approved the LNG project fifteen years ago, with a stipulation that construction begin within three years of the commission’s order. The FERC has granted several three-year extensions of that deadline according to Petroleum News.

Yukon Pacific’s latest request for more time is denied because a 1995 environmental impact statement is “outdated and can no longer be used to support the authorization of this project,” Wright’s letter said.

Wright wrote that “numerous changes in regulatory requirements since 1995, from both an environmental and safety perspective,” must now be addressed.

In one ruling, FERC has taken a one issue candidate and turned him into a non issue candidate.