Lisa Murkowski introduced legislation this week designed to help the Enstar bullet line move forward.
The Denali National Park and Preserve Natural Gas Pipeline Act would authorize the Secretary of Interior to issue right of way permits for the bullet line through the national park. Federal approval is needed for the section of pipeline that is constructed inside any national park.
Enstar’s project is a proposed natural gas line constructed along the Parks Highway and Dalton Highway, capable of carrying 500 million cubic feet of gas a day from the Gubik gas fields in the Brooks Range through Fairbanks and south to Anchorage.
SB 766, if passed, would remove one of the obstacles the project currently has.
Many conservation minded groups have endorsed the bullet line project through the park – The Denali Citizens Council, the Alaska Center for the Environment, and the National Parks and Conservation Association as well as others.
Murkowski says the legislation isn’t about determining which alternatives for natural gas are better, but removing one of the obstacles that would occur IF the pipeline project goes forward.
An alternate plan calls for the bullet line to be built along the Richardson and Glenn Highways.
