Ted Stevens Pushing Earmark For Son’s Employer

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) wants to make sure an earmark left over from 2005 gets to the right oil company – the one that employs his son, former Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens.

Roll Call (sub. req.) has the story today on the $2 million that is supposed to help a subsidiary of SEMCO Energy to study the feasibility of a pipeline in Alaska.

When the earmark appeared in the Senate version of the SAFETEA-LU bill where Stevens chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, it was left a little unclear where the money should go:

“That earmark came to us as an orphan,” said Mike Chambers, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. “When an earmark comes in, and if it is general enough, several people will stand up and claim it … sort of like a custody battle.”

Stevens, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are making it clear who should win custody:
ENSTAR Natural Gas and ASRC Energy Service. The companies are working to see if a pipeline can be built between Fairbanks and Anchorage.

ENSTAR Natural Gas is a subsidiary of SEMCO Energy, a Michigan-based energy company. Ben Stevens has served on the board of SEMCO since 2004 and was paid $77,810 for his service in 2006, according to the company’s most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This latest news does not appear to have come out of the FBI’s ongoing probe into Alaska politics.