Committee hears SB 180 to remove a sentence that confused RCA authority over LNG import agreements

Paige Brown, staff to the Senate Resources Committee, told the House Labor and Commerce Committee that SB 180 "is purposed to remove confusion about regulatory regulatory authority of the RCA." The bill would repeal a sentence added in 2024 (in HB 50) that, Brown said, has generated repeated litigation and administrative hearings about whether the Regulatory Commission of Alaska can consider certain gas‑supply and terminal‑use agreements.

John Espindola, chair of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, told the committee the RCA believes it "has the authority to review the internal use and gas supply agreements," but that the sentence inserted in HB 50 has been used as a litigation argument to challenge that jurisdiction. Commissioner Steve DeVries said the repeal would "remove that particular tool as an argument that can be raised by other litigants" and would reduce repeated hearings and costs to the commission.

Committee members asked for clarification about the boundary between Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authority and RCA review. Brown and RCA commissioners agreed that FERC has exclusive authority over the siting, construction and operation of LNG terminals under the Natural Gas Act, but said FERC jurisdiction does not extend to intrastate price regulation or to certain contract terms once the terminal connects to a state‑regulated pipeline. DeVries summarized the commission’s position: while FERC governs siting and terminal operations, "what is jurisdictional is what would fall under our umbrella, which would be reasonable cost for purposes of reservation and capacity fees or other uses made by a user of that facility for purposes of providing natural gas service to consumers."

Co‑chair Fields closed the exchange by calling SB 180 "pro‑consumer" for preserving the RCA’s ability to review gas‑supply agreements. The committee set an amendment deadline and set the bill aside for future consideration.

What happens next: the committee set an amendment deadline of April 25 at 5 p.m. and took no formal vote on the bill at this hearing.