(a) A licensee that is awarded a certificate of public convenience and necessity from a regulatory agency with jurisdiction over the project shall accept the certificate on or before the date the order granting the certificate is no longer subject to judicial review.

(b) If the licensee has credit support sufficient to finance construction of the project through ownership of rights to produce and market gas resources, firm transportation commitments, or government financing, the licensee shall sanction the project within one year after the effective date of the certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the regulatory agency with jurisdiction over the project.

(c) If the licensee does not have credit support sufficient to finance construction of the project through ownership of rights to produce and market gas resources, firm transportation commitments, or government financing, the licensee shall sanction the project before the later of

(1) two years after the effective date of the certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the regulatory agency with jurisdiction over the project; or

(2) five years after the close of the first binding open season of the project.

(d) If the licensee fails to sanction the project as required under this section, the licensee shall, upon request by the state,

(1) seek approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, as applicable, to abandon and transfer the certificate to the state or the state's designee; and

(2) assign to the state or the state's designee all engineering designs, contracts, permits, and other data related to the project that are acquired by the licensee during the term of the license before the date of the abandonment or transfer.

(e) The transfer and assignments under (d) of this section as a result of failure to comply with (a) or (b) of this section are at no cost to the state or the state's designee. A transfer under (c) of this section shall be subject to the state's payment to the licensee of the net amount of expenditures incurred and paid by the licensee that are qualified expenditures for the purposes of AS 43.90.110.

(f) In this section, “effective date of the certificate of public convenience and necessity” means the earlier of the date the order granting the certificate is no longer subject to judicial review, or the date the licensee accepts the certificate.