"AGIA" = GAS PIPELINE, WE HOPE!

Governor Sarah Palin, today at a press conference, announced "AGIA" - the acronym standing for the "Alaska Gasline Inducement Act." Basically, AGIA is a fresh approach to finally bringing Alaska's immense resources of natural gas to market through a gas pipeline.

Governor Palin said, "America should not rely on foreign imports to fuel our homes and our businesses. Alaska is willing and able to supply energy for our nation . . . I think we should all agree we cannot afford to allow clean, safe, domestic energy supplies to sit untapped any longer." AGIA is a competitive approach to a gas pipeline, structured very differently from Governor Murkpowski's plan that failed last year.

The legislature now has AGIA in its lap, where it will be examined line by line in an exhaustive committee process in both the House and Senate, before I get a chance to vote "Yes" or "No" on the House floor.

Good News: AGIA appears to be a positive, competitive, and transparent approach to getting the much desired pipeline. So far, the outlook looks good (I'm a politician, so please note I qualified my opinion with the words "so far!").