|
Dunleavy changes AGDC board members; 2 public members out
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has made substantial changes to the board of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., dismissing two public members, Hugh Short of Girdwood and Joey Merrick of Eagle River, both AGDC executive board members, and naming Doug Smith and Dan Coffey, both of Anchorage, to fill those seats.
There are five public members on the AGDC board, confirmed by the Legislature and serving at the pleasure of the governor.
To the two commissioner seats Dunleavy named Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Tamika Ledbetter and Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune.
“Alaskans have long focused on the benefits of reduced energy costs, bringing our rich energy resources to market and monetizing our North Slope gas,” Dunleavy said in a Jan. 7 press release. “Today’s announcement continues those goals, while putting in place the personnel to make diligent review of the project. AGDC is tasked with a very complex mission - and I look forward to seeing how best the State can assist in moving a project forward,” the governor said.
Continuing public members of the board include Dave Cruz of Palmer, David Wright of Anchorage and Warren Christian of North Pole.
New members Prior to being named commissioner of Labor, Ledbetter held several key positions in the department, including regional manager for the Anchorage/Mat-Su economic region.
Brune most recently was senior director of land and resources for Cook Inlet Region Inc. Prior to that, he was executive director of the Resource Development Council, board president of the Alaska Miners Association, member of the State Chamber of Commerce Board and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Public Advisory Committee.
Smith, with more than 25 years’ experience in the Alaska oil and gas and construction industries, has served as president and CEO of ASRC Energy Services and on the boards of RDC and the Alaska Support Industry Alliance.
Coffey served two terms as chair of the Anchorage Assembly. He is a business owner, attorney and longtime oil and gas advocate and previously served as chairman of the Alaska Board of Fish, chairman of the Anchorage Energy Commission and as a member of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. Community Advisory Council.
Walker also changed board After Bill Walker was elected governor in 2014, he removed three public members from the AGDC board - Al Bolea, Drue Pearce and Richard Rabinow, retaining John Burns, the board chair, and Cruz, all named to the board in September 2013 by then-Gov. Sean Parnell. Boles and Rabinow were former oil company executives; Pearce, a former president of the Alaska Senate, was and the first federal coordinator for Alaska natural gas transportation projects.
Legislators who were involved in the development of AGDC, established under House Bill 4 in 2013, expressed disappointment at the changes.
Walker had some difficulty getting new public members confirmed to the board.
Hugh Short, chairman and CEO of Pt Capital, and Rick Halford, a former legislator, were confirmed; Joe Paskvan, also a former legislator, was not.
Cruz, president of Cruz Cos., is the only remaining member of the original board, whose public members included John Burns, a lawyer and former Alaska attorney general; Bolea; Pearce; and Rabinow.
Merrick, secretary of Laborers’ Local 341, was named to the board by Walker in September of 2015.
In November 2015 Walker dismissed Burns, replacing him with former Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins, who, along with Walker, had been involved with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority.
In September 2016, Walker appointed David Wight, a former president and CEO of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., to replace Halford, who did not seek reappointment, and Warren Christian to replace Hopkins, who resigned after declaring as a candidate for the Alaska Senate. Christian is president of Doyon Associated LLC, specializing in Arctic pipeline construction.
- KRISTEN NELSON
|
