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FERC begins Alaska gas line EIS process
Petroleum News
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in an Aug. 5 Federal Register notice that its staff will prepare an environmental impact statement for the planned Alaska Pipeline Project.
FERC said the project, being advanced by TransCanada Alaska Co. LLC and ExxonMobil Alaska Midstream Gas Investments LLC, would move gas from Alaska’s North Slope to the Alaska-Canada border for delivery to North American markets.
The commission noted that the project proponent is considering an alternative proposal to build a natural gas pipeline to Valdez for delivery into a liquefied natural gas plant for export of LNG, but said because it “has received very little information on the LNG plant and the associated pipeline, the Valdez proposal is not sufficiently developed for the FERC to include in the environmental review at this time.”
FERC said that because of the magnitude of the proposal, the scoping period would remain open for an extended period, through Feb. 27, 2012. A schedule of public scoping meetings, tentatively scheduled for January and February next year, will be issued at least a month prior to the meeting dates.
TransCanada and ExxonMobil plan to file a formal application with FERC in October 2012, begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2014 and put the pipeline system into service in the third quarter of 2020.
Includes line from Point Thomson The project FERC will study in the EIS includes some 58 miles of 32-inch-diameter pipeline and associated aboveground facilities from the processing plant at the Point Thomson field to a planned gas treatment plant near Prudhoe Bay; a new gas treatment plant near Prudhoe Bay capable of producing up to 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of pipeline-quality gas; about 745 miles of 48-inch-diameter pipeline and associated ancillary and auxiliary facilities from the GTP to the Alaska-Yukon border; construction of at least five delivery points, eight compressor stations, two meter stations, various mainline block valves and pig launching-receiving facilities; and associated infrastructure such as access roads, helipads, construction camps, pipe storage areas, contractor yards, borrow sites and dock modifications and dredging at Prudhoe Bay.
The Alaska Mainline would start at the GTP, generally follow the existing trans-Alaska oil pipeline to Delta Junction and then generally follow the Alaska Highway southeast to the Alaska-Yukon border.
At the border the Alaska Mainline would connect with a new pipeline in Canada to deliver gas to North American markets through the Alberta Hub or other facilities near the British Columbia-Alberta border.
While no application has yet been filed, FERC said it is initiating the EIS under the National Environmental Policy Act under its pre-filing process. As part of the pre-filing process, FERC said it has already started to meet with the project proponent, jurisdictional agencies, Alaska Native tribes, local officials and other interested stakeholders.
The agency is requesting specific comments or concerns about the planned project, and said comments “should focus on the potential environmental effects, reasonable alternatives, and measures to avoid or lessen environmental impacts,” and said the more specific comments are, the more useful they will be.
Comments may be submitted in writing to the commission or electronically at the commission’s website at www.ferc.gov.
More information is available on FERC’s website, or on the Alaska Pipeline Project website at www.thealaskapipelineproject.com.
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