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ANGDA, agencies, at odds on EIS process Corps of Engineers has issues with description of Beluga-to-Fairbanks gas line; BLM doesn’t think ANGDA has authority to go north Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Federal agencies are butting heads with the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority over its project description for the proposed Beluga-to-Fairbanks or B2F gas line and over its authority to permit a right of way for that project.
The issue surfaced at ANGDA’s November board meeting, when board member Bill Jeffress referred to letters from the Army Corps of Engineers — the lead agency for the project’s environmental impact statement — and the Bureau of Land Management, which would issue a right-of-way permit and is a cooperating agency with the corps.
Jeffress asked why the board hadn’t seen letters from BLM, which expressed concern about ANGDA meeting the fit, willing and able requirement for a permit. The agency also described B2F as a moving target, Jeffress said.
Board member Brian Rogers said he was also concerned about BLM questioning ANGDA’s authority to build the line.
The ANGDA board held a meeting with representatives of the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management on Nov. 23 at which issues of both the project description and ANGDA’s authority were discussed.
A working group of the board, including Jeffress, was to meet with the agencies on these issues before the next board meeting, scheduled for Dec. 14.
Corps, BLM overview Serena Sweet, the Corps of Engineers project manager for B2F, and Ron Dunton, gas pipeline project manager for the division of Alaska lands at BLM’s Alaska state office, gave the board an overview of federal authorizations required and the current status of the B2F EIS.
The B2F project requires federal authorizations from the BLM for a right of way under the Mineral Leasing Act and from the corps under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act.
Federal authorizations require compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and authorizations must be based on a legally defensible NEPA document, which for the proposed B2F project is an environmental impact statement.
An EIS is a disclosure document, not a permit, Sweet said, and it informs the public and federal decision makers.
Dunton said BLM is involved because the pipeline crosses public land. BLM verifies the applicant is qualified to hold a ROW grant; ensures the project is in the public interest; concludes it is not inconsistent with other laws and regulations; determines the project is consistent with existing land-use plans; confirms the applicant has technical and financial capability; and that the project complies with NEPA.
The Corps of Engineers requirements include determining compliance with Clean Water Act guidelines; ensuring the project is in the public interest; considering mitigation including avoiding, minimizing or compensating for resources losses; and ensuring that the project complies with NEPA, Sweet said.
EIS 13 weeks behind Sweet said the B2F draft EIS is 13 weeks behind schedule and continues to slip, delayed because an adequate project description has not been submitted. Part of the problem, she said, is that the project purpose has been revised multiple times.
The first project description included delivery of gas from Cook Inlet to Golden Valley Electric Association at the Fairbanks-North Pole power plant, providing gas storage in the pipeline for peak demand in Southcentral and transporting North Slope gas to Cook Inlet via a takeoff point from a large-diameter pipeline at Delta Junction.
This September the purpose was changed to exclude delivery of North Slope gas, Sweet said.
One critical issue for the agencies is resolving the issue of ANGDA’s statutory authority — whether the purpose of B2F falls within ANGDA’s statutory authority.
The other issue Sweet described as a disparity between information provided to the public by ANGDA and the project description.
The EIS project is described as a standalone pipeline, but that doesn’t match up with information being given to the public, she said.
ANGDA CEO Harold Heinze said ANGDA is not restricted to a single project: “We’re working on a spur line diligently,” he said, but at the same time have “legitimately started a project to deliver gas to Fairbanks,” and are also working on other things.
He said it was an unfair characterization to call it doublespeak. It may be confusing, he said, but the goal is to keep the B2F project definition focused.
Sweet said it’s an issue whether B2F is a standalone pipeline or a spur line, because a spur line may require a larger NEPA scope because ANGDA is the first out of the gate and cannot tier off of anyone else’s EIS.
Authority and scope The authority and project scope issues are related.
Jeffress asked for an Attorney General’s opinion on whether ANGDA has authority under statute to work on B2F.
Assistant Attorney General Jim Cantor said the Department of Law wrestled with the same issues, but said ANGDA has authority to work on a project that will eventually bring gas to market.
ANGDA has short-term and long-term goals, he said, and if a short-term goal ties into what’s included in statute it is authorized. On the issue of whether the Legislature should explicitly grant ANGDA authority to move gas north from Cook Inlet, Cantor said that will be based on demands of underwriters when the project reaches the funding stage.
Dunton said to ensure the project is authorized by statute it must someday bring North Slope gas south through a spur.
Deputy Commissioner of Revenue Marcia Davis asked about the possibility of going back later and doing a NEPA process for North Slope gas.
Sweet said that while there is a lot of data available on a line to the North Slope, B2F is the only description the corps has in the EIS, and she said the agency’s concern is the public perception: If it’s a spur line and not a standalone line, then the line to the North Slope isn’t included in the EIS and the public has potentially been misled.
Heinze said B2F is a project with an identity, a source of gas and a customer, but is part of a larger pattern, a piece of the puzzle. ANGDA has limited resources, he said, and is not working on all projects.
Jeffress said he was worried that since the solicitor’s office at the Department of Interior doesn’t think ANGDA has the authority for B2F, a bulletproof NEPA process may require modifying the application.
Davis asked what would be required for “the speculative secondary use” of B2F to move North Slope gas to Southcentral. It’s the same pipe, just flowing in a different direction, she said. She asked if there were any show stoppers or any additional agencies involved.
Sweet said that for the EIS there would be additional data required for the cumulative impact section because the corps would be remiss if it didn’t consider impacts clear to the North Slope, and said the corps was concerned that while the B2F project is depicted as a standalone line, ANGDA is pitching it on TV as a spur line.
“We do plan a spur line,” but B2F is a plan to incite Cook Inlet drilling, a plan that came from the Department of Natural Resources, not from ANGDA, Davis said.
She asked whether the line could be done without permitting a North Slope line for everyone else.
Limited resources Heinze said ANGDA has always known that the cleanest way to do this is to examine all possible pipelines, but ANGDA doesn’t have the resources to do that.
He said ANGDA has been advised by different consultants over several years to keep its focus in-state and not cover every eventuality.
ANGDA Chairman Scott Heyworth asked what it would take if ANGDA looked at going to the North Slope.
Sweet said re-evaluation would be necessary and the EIS would probably have to start over since it would be a much larger scope.
Heinze said a larger project would be completely different than what the contractor was hired to do and ANGDA would have to void the contract and start over. He said the project had morphed over the summer because of discussions with agencies. ANGDA doesn’t have the resources to do it all, he said, and asked the agencies for something it has the resources to do.
Dunton said BLM requires a description of what ANGDA wants to do and a defensible EIS. If a spur line in the future is required for the project to be under ANGDA’s statutory authority, then that has to be considered in the cumulative impacts.
B2F was a project of the Palin administration. Heyworth said Gov. Sean Parnell hasn’t cancelled B2F.
Heinze said he wanted to check with the Legislature in January, noting that the speaker of the House was a prime sponsor of the bill to broaden ANGDA’s authority to authorize it to move gas from Cook Inlet to the Interior, House Bill 44, which passed the House and is in Senate Resources. Heinze said the Legislature stopped working on the bill after the Department of Law issued a letter authorizing ANGDA expenditures on B2F.
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