Gov. Bill Walker was at the White House Friday with six other new governors meeting with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and members of Obama’s Cabinet. According to national media accounts, Obama said that the new governors “represent a wide variety of states but they all have a common interest.” That common interest is to ensure that their constituents “are able to gain opportunity, work hard, prosper, feel secure. And that happens best when we work together.”
During an hour-long meeting with Obama and the governors in the Oval Office, Walker said that he talked to Obama about infrastructure, the high cost of energy in the state, and about the natural gas pipeline, something that Obama was “very receptive to,” Walker said.
“Today’s meetings opened the door for potential opportunities to expedite the process for achieving an all-Alaska gas line,” Walker said.
Walker was the only independent in the group, a fact, according to a press release, that Obama acknowledged.
Other governor’s in attendance were: Greg Abbott (R-Texas), Charlie Baker (R-Massachusetts), Larry Hogan (R-Maryland), Gina Raimondo (D-Rhode Island), Bruce Rauner (R-Illinois) and Tom Wolf (D-Pennsylvania).
While in D.C., Walker met with the governor’s D.C. office staff, stopped by the National Governor’s Association Office and attended a briefing at Department of Homeland Security.
This is some low grade posturing. Does anyone really believe in what Obama says about anything let alone Alaska. Is this the best the new administration can do with propaganda? They need help. I support them and wish them the best, but we are off to a lame idealistic start here.
Good to see Alaska advancing with an intelligent governor. The last one refused to even meet the president, preferring to act like a child then a representative of all Alaskans.
The US President can certainly be a valuable partner in helping advance this critically important project.
Exactly what benefit? An audience with the great one?
The benefits of taking a moderate stance are showing themselves already. Goodbye Parnell and your federal overreach. Maybe the Koch brothers will hire you as their state representative.
What Obama thinks is really pretty immaterial. Has anyone calculated the time and expense that litigation with the enviromentalists will require? They have discovered that the only permitting process that really matters happens in the 9th circuit court
This shouldn’t be a surprise. The Obama Administration has been saying this for awhile now. And it isn’t just talk — DOE processed the AK LNG export license in an expidited manner. There is a lot of momentum. The AK LNG team appears to have a good working relationship with the feds. Hopefully Walker’s team will get up to speed and keep moving this forward.