Regulators reconsider Usibelli gas plan

The Associated Press

The Department of Natural Resources is reviewing its decision to grant an exploration license for coalbed methane near Healy.

The state gave Usibelli Coal Mine a license June 28. But Alaska Division of Oil and Gas Director Kevin Banks said several people raised concerns and the agency decided to address those issues.

One concern is over designated wildlife habitat in the area.

Usibelli wants to explore for natural gas in roughly 200,000 acres along the Parks Highway between Healy and Nenana. The area has a high potential for methane or other shallow gas.

DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin will have the chance to reject the license, accept it or modify its terms, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

The state DNR issued a preliminary finding for a proposed exploration license in 2005, but other priorities at the agency stalled the process for years.

“I think the parties involved would prefer we get moving,” Banks said. “It’s been an embarrassingly long time as it is.”

Some people who raised concerns requested larger setbacks next to creeks and watersheds, greater rights for residential subdivisions and a longer comment period.

The Denali Citizens Council, an environmental group based in Healy, asked that areas already designated by the state for public recreation and wildlife habitat in the Stampede townships be set aside.

The group’s president, Nancy Bale, said that would restrict about one-sixth of the licensing area.

Steve Denton, Usibelli’s vice president for business development, said the company is turning its attention to the area. “We need to take it off the shelf now and take a fresh look at it,” Denton said.

Coalbed methane exploration has been a controversial issue in the past.

In 2003, shallow gas extraction became contentious in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys in Southcentral Alaska when a Colorado company was awarded leases in the area. The licenses allowed exploration on private land, since the state still owns mineral rights beneath that land. Some residents said it conflicted with their property rights.

Denton said Usibelli is aware that similar issues could emerge in the Healy area.

“I think it’s the same concerns, basically, and the same kind of constituency — people who want to buy 5 acres, but want to control 5,000,” he said.