Alaska postpones TransCanada hearing

JUNEAU, Alaska, June 15 (UPI) -- Alaskan lawmakers canceled a meeting scheduled for the Monday session to discuss North Slope gas pipeline projects as key players could not attend.

Exxon Mobil last week announced it was joining TransCanada to push for the development of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope in Alaska.

The Alaskan House Energy and Resources Committee had scheduled a Monday hearing to discuss the project, but the meeting was postponed, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

House majority spokesman Will Vandergriff said executives with TransCanada and Exxon Mobil were unable to attend the hearing, pushing their appearance back to later in June.

TransCanada won a state license from Alaska along with $500 million in perks to construct the pipeline, while BP and ConocoPhillips are pushing for a rival project called Denali.

Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and her supporters remain adamant the TransCanada project is moving forward, suggesting slow initial developments were overshadowing long-term potential.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, for his part, said Washington has expressed frustration that the project was moving too slowly, suggesting the White House would take the project out of state hands.

Apart from costs and government obstacles, critics point to technological developments that make gas extraction from shale deposits in the Lower 48 a possible alternative to the North Slope project.