JUNEAU — Gov. Bill Walker's administration is asking the Legislature to approve an $840,000 salary and benefits package for a public employee to work on Alaska's natural gas pipeline megaproject.
The request is part of the budget bill that Walker is asking lawmakers to approve during the special session currently underway here. The money would boost the salary and benefits of an existing position at the Department of Natural Resources that's currently vacant.
The state is pursuing the $55 billion project with three oil producers and a pipeline company, TransCanada. The DNR employee will be charged with trying to sell the state's share of natural gas extracted from the North Slope — which could be up to 25 percent of the gas that goes into the pipeline.
The state budget currently puts $360,000 toward the position, according to a spokeswoman for Walker, Katie Marquette. Walker is asking lawmakers to approve another $480,000 for the job, for a total salary and benefits package of $840,000.
The natural resources department says it needs the extra money to "attract someone with the experience we will need as a state to compete in a global marketing environment," Marquette wrote in an email Monday.
Marquette didn't respond to a question about how the $840,000 would be split between salary and benefits. But a spokeswoman for DNR, Elizabeth Bluemink, said benefits typically amount to about 40 percent of salaries, which would make the salary about $600,000.
The natural resources department set the compensation package with help from consultant Black and Veatch, Bluemink said.
The employee is needed because the state will enter the natural gas business if the pipeline is built, Bluemink said. And the employee's work will help determine the price the state earns for what what could be billions of dollars of gas.
In a phone interview, Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, said he was unfamiliar with the details of the request. But he added that to evaluate it, lawmakers would need an explanation of the role Walker envisions for the employee, and a comparison to industry standards.
The pipeline project is unique, with very few people qualified to work on it, Hawker said.
"They're going to be expensive," he said. "Will they be that expensive? I don't know."
Walker's administration has also hired several consultants and law firms to work on the project.
One, attorney Rigdon Boykin, earns $120,000 monthly.
Walker's special session request to the Legislature includes an extra $10 million for two law firms that have worked on the project — Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy of New York and Miami-based Greenberg Traurig.
During his gubernatorial campaign last year, Walker questioned salaries earned by employees at a state corporation working on the pipeline, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. President Dan Fauske's salary is $366,000, and his total compensation package is $510,000.
In an interview in September, Walker defended his consultants' salaries by citing their experience and expertise.