Guest Editorial: Gas line should pipe up and pay its own way

I don’t believe the proposed multi-multibillion-dollar Alaska North Slope gas project will be built. It’s too expensive. The risk of construction delays and overruns are too much for investors to accept. The prospects of sufficient long-term demand growth for liquefied natural gas delivered by tanker to Asia are too uncertain. The competition from less risky gas projects is too much to overcome.

Other than that, sure, it could be great for Alaska. Think of the jobs, the state tax and royalty revenues, and the profitable fact that selling the gas would extend the economic life of North Slope oi...