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EPA sets scoping meetings for Point Thomson EIS
Petroleum News Alaska Staff
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the lead agency for the Point Thomson environmental impact statement, has scheduled scoping meetings on the project for late October and early November.
Point Thomson, some 50 miles east of Prudhoe Bay, is a gas cycling project which will develop a high-pressure condensate within the Point Thomson unit, some 117,000 acres of state oil and gas leases. The reservoir contains an estimated 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 400 million barrels of recoverable condensate.
Extended reach drilling will be used to reach the reservoir, which is primarily offshore, from onshore drill pads. The vertical depth to be drilled is approximately 13,000 feet with extended reach drilling out to some 20,000 feet offshore. Condensate would be separated from gas and water at a central processing facility and the condensate shipped by pipeline.
Pipeline to Badami ExxonMobil has proposed a project which includes: a 22-mile pipeline connecting Point Thomson with the existing Badami pipeline; three onshore well pads — two for production wells and a third for gas injection wells and an industrial waste disposal well; a central processing facility on a pad adjacent to the injection well pad; aboveground pipelines connecting the east and west extraction well sites and the central processing facility; support facilities including crew camp, electric power generation and distribution, fuel storage, water treatment and storage, communications facility; an airstrip; a dock; a dredged channel to the dock with ocean disposal of dredge spoils; a road system within the field; a gravel mine; and water sources.
The EPA said the project triggered a National Environmental Policy Act evaluation because it requires federal agency approvals: from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA for ocean dredging; and approval for filling of wetlands from the Corps of Engineers. The EPA said that as lead agency it determined that an EIS was needed. The EIS process requires that all reasonable development alternatives be identified, in addition to those identified by the applicant. The impact of each alternative will be evaluated, as will the effectiveness of identified mitigation measures.
Scoping meetings scheduled The public will have an opportunity to review and comment on ExxonMobil’s proposed hydrocarbon development in the Point Thomson area at scoping meetings:
Kaktovik, Oct. 28, 1-3 p.m., City Hall;
Barrow, Oct. 29, 3-7 p.m., City Hall;
Nuiqsut, Oct. 30, 7-9 p.m., Community Center;
Arctic Village, Nov. 4, 1-3 p.m., Council Office;
Venetie, Nov. 5, 1-3 p.m., Community Hall;
Fairbanks, Nov. 6, 5:30-7 p.m., Chena River Convention Center;
Anchorage, Nov. 7, 5:30-7 p.m., Loussac Library.
The scoping period for Point Thomson runs from Oct. 14 through Nov. 30.
A draft EIS is expected to be available for public review in mid-2003, followed by public meetings on the draft EIS. Public and agency comment on a final EIS is expected in early 2004.
Information is available online at: http://projects.ch2m.com/PtThomsonEIS
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