The State of Alaska has made many attempts to build a gas pipeline. Currently, a lot of effort is being put into the Alaska LNG Project, a partnership between the state, the three largest oil producers, and Trans-Canada. The project recently held an open-house meeting in Trapper Creek. KTNA’s Phillip Manning was there, and has this report:
Tuesday night’s meeting in Trapper Creek was the eleventh hosted by the Alaska LNG Project in recent weeks. There was no presentation. Instead, representatives of various parts of the project were spread throughout the elementary school’s gym to answer questions from area residents.
Many of those questions were directed at those who work on the land and pipeline areas of AK LNG. Stephen McDaniel is the lead advisor on lands, and he says that three major factors determined the corridor that is being planned for the large-diameter natural gas pipeline.
“…Make use of public lands. That’s the biggest. The other was to try to get on higher land, so you don’t affect wetlands or lowlands, and what is the quickest route to where we want to end up?”
The route that is currently being considered would follow a similar path as Trans-Alaska Pipeline until Livengood, where the proposed pipeline would split off in order to follow the Parks Highway south to the Willow area. South of that, two alternatives are being considered for crossing the Cook Inlet and reaching the ultimate destination of Nikiski. There, the plan calls for the gas to be liquefied and exported. Stephen McDaniel says that the proposed pipeline corridor has largely met the goal of using public land. He estimates about 90% of the route is in public hands. Some private property is involved, however, and he says those tend to be the people with the most questions.
“Private individuals are looking for, ‘How does it impact me? What does this project meant to me?’ This is what it means to them, because this is pictures of their land.”
In addition to crossing some private land, the corridor intersects a number of public and private trail systems. Pipeline Engineer Todd Bunnell says that ensuring access to those trail systems is one of the priorities during construction.
“When you come to the trail part, that’s the part where we actually work with the public, work with the person that owns the trail and how you cross the trail so you can maintain use of it.”
All of the current plans, including where exactly the pipe will be buried within the corridor, are still very preliminary. Michael Nelson, Socioeconomic Lead for AK LNG, says that the project is still in Pre-Front End Engineering and Design, or pre-FEED, stage. Nelson says most of what comes next involves studying the project and further defining the role of the State of Alaska.
“We’ll be conducting summer fieldwork, socioeconomic studies throughout the corridor, design in every aspect will be progressed, and then ,in the meantime, we’ll be looking at commercial agreements. There’s a lot of work yet to do in the legislature…”
With Governor-elect Bill Walker’s victory, it’s not known how the state administration will change with regard to the project. Walker says he wants a gas line, but has been critical of the lack of public knowledge regarding the details of the partnership between the state, Trans-Canada, and the oil producers. Michael Nelson says the impact of Walker’s election isn’t known, yet.
“For a project like this, that needs to be viable for tens of years…it needs to be designed and implemented in a way to be sustainable through numerous administrations. So, exactly what that effect will be…too early to tell.”
As AK LNG moves forward, it will need permits from both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state. Shannon Miller is with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. She explains how the state oversees permitting for a project for which it is also an applicant.
“We have a different group of individuals who are serving through [the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation],representing the State of Alaska. And then, those of us who are regulators, we serve on a different end of the spectrum, if you will. So, there’s the oversight, and then there’s the applicant.”
Not many new details emerged at Tuesday’s meeting. By far, the most common answer to specific questions was along the lines of, “We’re currently studying that,” or, “That’s yet to be determined.” One thing that AK LNG representatives, as well as FERC and DNR, all maintain is that a major portion of this phase of the pipeline project is public input. AK LNG has more meetings planned, and FERC will eventually hold public meetings of its own as part of the permitting process. The state legislature will also have a role to play when it reconvenes in January.
