Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, Agent for the Owners of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System v. State of Alaska And…

Summary

The court affirmed the superior court's decision upholding the Department's appraisal of the annual rent for the TAPS right-of-way. It held that the governing statute requires valuation of the fair market value of the state's land interest, rather than Alyeska's nonexclusive leasehold interest, and that the Department's adjudicatory interpretation did not need to be adopted as a regulation. The court also held that Alyeska waived its interstate-commerce argument and failed to show that the Department had to establish state title to the submerged lands.