"The question for us is: can we get the US government to ideally increase (the guarantees) in step with inflation, recognizing that inflation has taken a big bite out of them," Kvisle said in an interview. "We need to encourage the US government to perhaps increase the size of the loan guarantees." Mr Kvisle went on to say that TransCanada would also like to have more flexibility on how the loan guarantees are used by the company. His suggestions include using the guarantee to pay off the pipeline's debt should the company fail, or perhaps to cover some of the interest charges due if the tolls producers pay to ship their gas aren't enough to cover off the cost of financing the line. "Or the loan guarantee, in the extreme, could be used to guarantee the tolls, to guarantee to the producers that the toll won't be above a certain level," Mr Kvisle said. The new pipeline is planned to run for around 2700km from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's northern coast to a pipeline hub in Alberta. However, Alaska's gas producers have yet to agree to ship gas via the TransCanada line and two, BP and ConocoPhillips, are proposing a rival line called the Denali project.