Barack Obama talked a lot about building a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48 while he was campaigning. Building the pipeline is no small task. And by the end of his first year in office, Obama has made some -- albeit relatively small -- progress on the issue.
 
The natural gas pipeline has a long history and has been under consideration in one form or another for decades. Efforts to bring natural gas to markets down south have met with cost, political, and environmental hurdles over the last 30 years. In 2008, the state of Alaska approved legislation to award a license to TransCanada Alaska to develop and build a natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to a market hub in Alberta, Canada, where it would either connect to the existing North American distribution system or continue southeast to Chicago. Alaska also pledged up to $500 million in state support for the project. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips and BP have formed Denali Pipeline to develop another pipeline without financial support from the state of Alaska.
 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will ultimately have to approve the pipelines. Both TransCanada Alaska and the ConocoPhillips/BP partnership are putting together proposals, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reports that it has had multiple meetings with Alaskan and Canadian officials on the matter in the last year.

Of course, the process is complicated by the fact that the Alaska line will cut directly through Canada. Obama discussed the matter with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his first presidential visit to the country in February 2009.

"It's a project of great potential and something I'm very interested in," Obama told the Anchorage Daily News on Feb. 11, 2009. "As I mentioned during the campaign, I actually think that for us to move forward on the natural gas pipeline as part of a comprehensive energy strategy -- that includes both more production as well as greater efficiency -- makes a lot of sense," he said.
 
So, Obama has repeatedly said he supports the pipeline, whatever form it ultimately takes. But the process is long, involved and far from over. As a result, we'll move Obama's pledge to build a natural gas pipeline to In the Works.