Donlin ROW decision remand: DNR sends matter for analysis

Steve Sutherlin

Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has remanded - to the State Pipeline Coordinator’s Section - the matter of a motion of reconsideration of a final commissioner’s decision dated Jan. 22, in favor of offering a natural gas pipeline right of way over state lands to Donlin Gold LLC.

DNR issued a notice of the remand on Sept. 8.

The proposed pipeline route runs from Beluga on Cook Inlet to the company’s proposed mine in the Yukon Kuskokwim region of Western Alaska.

The Jan. 22 ROW decision, signed by Commissioner Corri Feige, proposed to offer the lease over 207 miles of state lands for 30 years, the maximum period allowed by law. The decision followed a series of public notices, hearings, community outreach and comment periods which began in 2014. Feige found that Donlin is “fit, willing and able to properly construct, operate, maintain and terminate the Donlin Pipeline.”

But in an April 30 letter to Bob Shavelson of Homer based Cook Inletkeeper, Feige granted a request for reconsideration.

“Following the issuance of the Final Decision, the Commissioner received a request for reconsideration concerning, in part, the cumulative effects and reasonably foreseeable impacts of the project,” DNR said in a Sept. 10 public notice. “The Commissioner agreed to reconsider these issues and has decided to remand this matter to the State Pipeline Coordinator’s Section to conduct further analysis on constitutional issues which may be implicated by proposed ADL 231908.”

“Under the Alaska Constitution, we Alaskans own our fish and water resources, and the state is charged with managing them in the public interest for current and future generations,” Shavelson said in a May 20 post on the Cook Inletkeeper website.

In the Feb. 6 request for reconsideration, Inletkeeper and co-petitioners Orutsararmiut Native Council, Kasigluk Traditional Council, Tununak IRA Council and Susitna River Coalition said their previously submitted comments and concerns about the right-of-way lease were not resolved prior to DNR’s Jan. 22 final decision.

“By segmenting the pipeline project into separate components, DNR has failed to take a hard look at impacts of all elements of the pipeline project, and of related projects that - together with the pipeline - will have cumulative effects on the state’s resources,” Inletkeeper said in the request. “Furthermore, the proposed decision fails to take a hard look at the types of impacts reasonably expected to flow from the various elements of the pipeline project, including but not limited to impacts to fish and wildlife, water quality and quantity, air quality, and soils and vegetation.”

Inletkeeper also said the proposed decision “wholly neglects to address the anticipated effects of climate change.”

“Under AS 38.35.100, the commissioner is tasked with determining whether the ROW will serve the present or future public interest, whether the state’s property interests will be protected, and whether the applicant will ensure that there will be no significant adverse environmental impact to the State’s public trust resources including fish, wildlife, vegetation, biotic resources, subsistence resources, land and water resources,” Inletkeeper said. “This duty of the commissioner is rooted in Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution, which requires that natural resources be made available for maximum use, consistent with the public interest, and that wherever occurring in their natural state, fish wildlife and waters are reserved to the people for common use.”

Additional comment period scheduled

In the revised consideration, updated Aug. 27, DNR said several of its responses have been revised from its Jan. 17 publication to “better discuss DNR’s analysis of the cumulative impacts of the proposed right-of-way lease.”

“Assuming the Commissioner ultimately grants the right-of-way approval, DNR intends to review the cumulative impacts of the project at a later point and seek public comment, likely after the applicant receives any and all Title 16 habitat permits from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, of which there are many,” DNR said.

In evaluating the pipeline, the state reviewed engineering, environmental and existing use information, DNR said, adding that the evaluations and resulting stipulations provided the basis for its decision that Donlin’s preferred route provides a greater degree of resource protection than other alternatives.

In addition to review of the pipeline application, the state participated as a cooperating agency in the National Environmental Policy Act process which resulted in modifications of the preferred route to minimize overlap and impacts to the Iditarod trail and Dalzell Gorge, DNR said.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, lead agency of the NEPA process, authorized Donlin’s preferred route based on the final environmental impact statement.

“Construction plans and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game Title 16 habitat permits will outline steps taken to minimize impacts to fish habitat,” DNR said. “Stream crossings will be reviewed, analyzed for cumulative impacts, and approved by DNR and ADF&G prior to issuance of the NTP construction approval.”

The pipeline would not remove any acreage from use for recreational or subsistence opportunities, it said.

“Public rights to use navigable waterways and public lands for navigation, commerce, fishing, hunting, and more will be protected, subject to the principals of the Public Trust Doctrine, as mentioned in Section III of the proposed decision,” DNR said.

Documents concerning the DNR decision on remand are available at: http://dog.dnr.alaska.gov/Home/Newsroom.

Comments about the DNR decision on remand must be submitted in writing to the SPCS before 5 p.m. Nov. 9.

- STEVE SUTHERLIN