Economy May Tank Palin's $30B Pipeline

A sour economy and tumbling oil prices might sink Sarah Palin’s oft-touted Alaskan natural-gas pipeline, the Wall Street Journal reports. Low prices and increased natural-gas production in the lower 48 are causing energy companies to reconsider the $30 billion project. Without the revenue-generating pipeline, Alaskans who depend on the state’s dividend checks might soon actually be paying taxes themselves.

The state-sponsored pipeline was to funnel gas from large energy concerns in the north of Alaska, but so far no one has signed on. The Canadian developer needs guarantees from customers before it starts construction, but a state senator was pessimistic about the chances: “It is going to be economics that drive this process and not how much we want it to happen.” (More Alaska stories.)