Noah out at DNR: Rep. Ramras calls for legislative hearings

November 18, 2009: Harry Noah, the highly respected state offical who was heading up the in state bullet line project, has resigned his position at the Department of Natural Resources.

Some lawmakers are worried that Noah was pushed out by the Palin, now Parnell DNR team headed by Tom Irwin and at least one lawmaker is already demanding a legislative hearing on the matter.

"In my opinion, this is a case of state commissioners hijacking the process, our sensibilities, and Alaska’s energy time clock," Rep. Jay Ramras (R-Fairbanks) wrote in a letter today addressed to both the House and Senate Resource Committee Chairs.

Since Noah was hired as the project manager for the in-state gas line back in February by then Gov. Palin, it has been widely known that DNR commissioner Irwin and his team were not playing nicely because they viewed Noah's work as taking away from their efforts on AGIA.

"If the large diameter line does not move forward, we need a back-up plan with a leader who will not, and cannot be undermined by
the DNR Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner," Ramras wrote..  This is what I believe has happened in the case of Harry Noah’s resignation." 

Ramras, who has been a vocal supporter of expediting gas to meet in-state needs, has repeatedly taken issue with the Parnell administration's approach to turning a blind eye to the urgency of Alaska's gas needs.

"DNR and DOR have indicated that they would embrace a failed open season--calling it a success, using some sort of Orwellian logic--by later addressing fiscal certainty, while reimbursing TransCanada and Exxon Mobil hundreds of millions of dollars and waiting two more years for the next open season. And, may I remind you, that there is no certain outcome for the 2012 open season either." Ramras told committee members in his letter.

"In my opinion, DNR and DOR have already succeeded in turning a large diameter gas pipeline project into a multi-year bureaucratic, money-guzzling report.  DNR and DOR must not do the same
thing to our Plan B, back-up plan, the small diameter, “bullet” line."

Ramras has called for immediate hearings on the issue.