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Denali gas legislation gets another OK For second time in 2013, Senate passes bill authorizing right of way for proposed transmission line to run through national park Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
The U.S. Senate has again passed legislation authorizing a right of way for a possible trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline to run through the fringe of Denali National Park and Preserve.
Senators passed S. 157, the Denali National Park Improvement Act, by unanimous consent on June 19.
The bill has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, sponsored the legislation, with Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, signing on as co-sponsor.
The bill would permit a high-pressure natural gas transmission line to be buried in the utility corridor along a seven-mile segment of the George Parks Highway running through the park.
In addition to the pipeline right of way, the interior secretary also could issue permits for “any distribution and transmission pipelines and appurtenances” necessary to supply gas to the park itself.
The bill also would authorize small hydroelectric projects in the park.
Getting gas to Southcentral The Senate passed a similar bill six months ago, during an unusual New Year’s Day session as members worked overtime on the “fiscal cliff” crisis. That bill, S. 302, ultimately died shortly thereafter when the 112th Congress ended.
Now Murkowski has succeeded in getting the legislation halfway through the new Congress.
The Denali right of way is important as the state and industry pursue options for moving long-stranded North Slope gas reserves to market.
One option would involve running a line to Southcentral Alaska, the state’s population center, to serve local needs. This in-state line would be smaller than the proposed large-diameter export line that could go to a tanker port at Valdez or swing into Canada.
On May 21, Gov. Sean Parnell signed House Bill 4 into law. The law gives a state entity, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., authority to develop, finance and operate a gas pipeline from the Slope to serve Fairbanks and Anchorage.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on which Murkowski is the top-ranking Republican, discussed the local gas situation, the in-state gas line idea, and the Denali right of way in an April 22 report accompanying S. 157.
Cook Inlet gas fields, long the major energy source for Southcentral, are declining, and plans for a large-volume export line might not materialize quickly enough to provide gas locally, the report said.
“Therefore, Alaska is considering investing in a smaller pipeline to meet medium-term demand,” the report said.
The in-state pipeline would run from the Slope region, past Fairbanks, through the Nenana River canyon and Denali National Park, coming near but not crossing the park’s wilderness boundary.
“S. 157 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to permit a pipeline to run through a small portion of the park, along an existing highway right-of-way, subject to appropriate analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and National Park System laws,” the committee report said.
It added that the National Park Service has “preliminarily indicated that running the pipeline along the existing highway right-of-way would be better for the park than constructing a new right-of-way through a scenic vista just outside the park’s boundary.”
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