JUNEAU -- Gov. Bill Walker on Friday vetoed a bill limiting a state-owned corporation's ability to plan a large natural gas pipeline from the North Slope, following through on his threats to do so.
House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, sponsored the bill, House Bill 132, saying it was necessary to keep the Walker administration's pipeline plans from interfering with another pipeline project in which the state is joined by the big three oil producers in Alaska.
Walker threatened to veto Chenault's bill the day it was released on March 2. He followed through Friday, saying it would be contrary to the state's interests.
The Alaska Constitution requires the Legislature to meet "immediately" in joint session to reconsider the bill's passage. A spokesman for Chenault said it was likely the Legislature would consider an override vote Sunday during a previously scheduled joint session on Walker's appointments.
It takes 40 of the 60 combined members of the House and Senate to override Walker's veto.
The bill has been a focal point of a months-long feud between Walker and the legislative leadership, including Chenault. Both Walker and Chenault have said they wanted to avoid a veto override vote.
Legislators were in the middle of an ice cream social at the governor's mansion in Juneau when his office announced he had vetoed the bill. He arrived later.