FNG permitting Fairbanks storage tank

Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC is permitting its Fairbanks storage expansion project.

The local distribution company is seeking a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for wetlands work related to a 5.5 million gallon storage tank on Tria Road in Fairbanks.

The tank would significantly increase the 240,000-gallon storage facilities the company currently maintains in Fairbanks, allowing the company to level seasonal swings and better guard against supply disruptions, as well as potentially sign on more customers.

The storage facility is also a crucial component of efforts to create a trucking operation to bring North Slope liquefied natural gas to the Interior to reduce heating oil consumption.

The project involves placing gravel fill in some 7.66 acres of wetlands. An earlier permit issued for the project in 2007 called for placing fill in only 5.2 acres of wetlands.

Fairbanks Natural Gas serves some 1,100 customers in the core of Fairbanks, but is attempting to expand its service area to include other sections of the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska is currently considering the request, as well as a similar request from the municipal Interior Alaska Natural Gas Utility.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is leading a state-backed effort to arrange and finance the supply chain for the LNG trucking operation by late 2015.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking comments through Dec. 3, 2013.

—Eric Lidji