Sen. Kelly Merrick of Eagle River has publicly blasted the Dunleavy Administration and the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation for signing an agreement with the Glenfarne Group.
In a Senate Finance Committee she made it clear that she is a “no” vote on state support for the Alaska LNG project with the private developer signed on to take over ownership of it. The state, through its independent development agency the Alaska Industrial Gasline and Export Authority, has a $50 million stake to get the $44 billion project going.
“Looking for answers? So am I! AGDC President, Frank Richards, has inked a deal with Glenfarne for the AKLNG project BEFORE examining all proposals on the table. This is a complete abdication of his duty to Alaska. Mr. Richards is the highest paid state employee at nearly $500k/year and refuses to answer questions posed by legislators. The only real answer I could get was from Co-Chair Hoffman! (Watch the final 10 seconds). Alaskans should be outraged and demand answers!” Merrick wrote on her official Facebook page.
Merrick did not disclose that her husband Joey Merrick, along with former Gov. Bill Walker, and former AGDC President Keith Meyer launched a private company to take over the project in 2020.
This, after Walker and Meyer had signed deals with the communist Chinese to take over the project in 2017.
When the new company Alaska Gasline & LNG LLC was formed, the new management at AGDC, led by Frank Richards, had no appetite for dealing with the prior Walker Administration and Joey Merrick, the thuggish head of Laborers 341. The company dissolved in 2021, but the company website is still standing, showing Merrick as the president of the company.
Sen. Kelly Merrick, in her current outrage, cut off AGDC President Richards during a Senate briefing last week, and then accused him of not answering questions.
Since Gov. Mike Dunleavy cancelled Walker’s deal with the communist Chinese in 2019, AGDC has conducted a public, multi-year market search for an experienced lead developer with the financial, technical, and operational resources necessary to successfully advance an energy infrastructure project as large and complex as Alaska LNG on a timeline that best serves the needs of Alaskans, AGDC said in a statement.
“We engaged with numerous parties and evaluated every written and documented proposal submitted during that time, independently and in consultation with advisors such as Goldman Sachs, in a thorough due diligence process,” AGDC reported to Must Read Alaska.
Must Read Alaska raised concerns in January about Glenfarne’s financial strength and whether it would have Chinese investors, but since then, AGDC hired a third party to do the “due diligence” investigation of the Houston and Australia-based company, and came away satisfied that the company has the wherewithal to build the Alaska gasline, and no communist Chinese skeletons in its closet.
“Glenfarne presented a comprehensive project development plan and engaged with AGDC in hundreds of hours of information sharing which culminated in an exclusive development negotiation and term sheet agreement. Once the AGDC-Glenfarne agreement was finalized, numerous other parties stepped forward with new or renewed interest in Alaska LNG. A project of Alaska LNG’s scale will offer numerous opportunities for additional investors and developers to participate,” AGDC’s statement to Must Read Alaska said.
In other words, after Glenfarne expressed interest and the negotiations were well under way, other parties wanted to see if they could play too.
But they were companies that were Johnny-come-lately entrants, and AGDC moved ahead with Glenfarne, rather than starting over.
Sen. Merrick may have just signaled that she will lead the charge to kill the Alaska Gasline project that is now moving toward the “final investment decision” phase. She is parroting the words of her husband, who has also trashed the AGDC project in public.
For Merrick, it may be a case of “If my husband can’t own it, no one can.”
Sen. Merrick may also be mad at Gov. Dunleavy for backing her opponent, Jared Goecker, in her 2024 run for reelection. She could be out for revenge.
Alaskans have waited for generations for the gasline to be built. The promises started with Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski and time and again, the project has ended in disappointment.
So it’s a fair question to raise: Is Kelly Merrick this year’s “Lucy,” the one who is going to pull the football out from under the gasline project?
