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March 2010

Vol. 15, No. 11 Week of March 14, 2010

DEC proposes new village utility permit

Nuiqsut Power & Light would gain permission for ‘unlimited operation’ of two gas-fired generators; gas comes from Alpine oil field

Wesley Loy

For Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing to issue a new air quality control permit to the North Slope Borough for the power utility in the village of Nuiqsut.

The “minor permit” would cover not only four diesel-fired generators, but also two generators fired with natural gas.

The new permit will straighten problems under the existing permit for the Nuiqsut Power & Light plant.

According to a DEC technical analysis, the borough installed the two gas-fired generators in September 2008 without first obtaining the necessary authorization under the Clean Air Act.

The new minor permit will authorize the continued operation of the gas-fired generators, as well as the four diesel-fired generators, the DEC says.

Alpine gas

The Nuiqsut utility takes its gas via pipeline from the ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine oil and gas field, located eight miles north of the Inupiat village of about 450 people.

Local residents negotiated for free gas as compensation for having a large industrial neighbor. Oil production began in 2000 at Alpine, which involves the use of some village corporation land.

Natural gas is helping reduce the cost and air pollution associated with diesel-fired generators, the DEC says.

The gas-fired generators will allow the North Slope Borough to hold diesel consumption to a limit of 185,200 gallons per year under the proposed new permit. The existing permit, which the DEC intends to rescind, authorizes the Nuiqsut utility to burn up to 825,000 gallons of diesel per year.

The borough asked the DEC for a consumption limit of 151 million cubic feet of gas per year, which equates essentially to “continuous, full-load operation of both generators,” the DEC says. Thus, the new permit will allow “unlimited operation” for the gas-fired generators.

The North Slope Borough’s Department of Public Works coordinated construction of the gas pipeline from Alpine to Nuiqsut, and is working to hook up residential and commercial customers to the gas supply, according to tariff filings with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.

The intent is to make natural gas the main fuel for generating electricity and for cooking and heating in the village, the filings say.






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