Alaska House approves TransCanada gas pipeline

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 22 (Reuters) - Alaska's House of Representatives voted late on Tuesday to allow TransCanada Corp.(TRP.TO) to build a massive pipeline to tap the vast natural gas resources of the state's North Slope region.

The chamber voted 24-16 in the state capital of Juneau for a bill backed by Governor Sarah Palin that would grant TransCanada a state license for a 1,700-mile (2,700 km) pipeline to bring the gas to North American markets.

The Alaskan Senate is expected to pass the bill approving TransCanada's bid by August 2.

TransCanada says the project will cost $26 billion, while consultants hired by Alaska estimate the cost at $31 billion.

Palin, a Republican, has endorsed TransCanada's plan to build the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to an existing hub on the Alberta-British Columbia border, shipping 4 billion cubic feet a day. She argues the company, as an independent pipeline operator, would free the state and the North Slope from the dominance of the major oil producers there -- BP (BP.L), ConocoPhillips (COP.N) and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N).

Legislators said TransCanada, the largest pipeline operator in North America, was the best choice to realize Alaska's three-decades-long dream of commercializing the languishing North Slope natural gas.

"We have players here that have an absolutely impeccable record of getting the gas to fill their pipelines," said Rep. Mike Kelly, a Fairbanks Republican. "TransCanada has got a proposal before us that absolutely follows the procedure that we set out in this body. It's time to award the license."

Rep. Harry Crawford, an Anchorage Democrat, said he was impressed with TransCanada's enthusiastic embrace of the project in contrast with what he said was the pessimistic attitude of the major oil producers.