Regulators have pipeline renewal is on fast track
Alan Bailey
Regulators think they have the trans-Alaska pipeline system right of way renewal on a fast track for completion in late 2002, a year before the federal grant expires in January 2004. (See story on renewal application page A19).
Rob McWhorter, federal coordinator in the Joint Pipeline Office, outlined the schedule at an International Right of Way Association seminar May 17 in Anchorage.
Scoping meetings for the environmental impact statement will take place through September and a draft EIS will be published in July 2002. In parallel with the environmental assessment, regulators will prepare a draft assessment of the compliance and commercial requirements, and produce a draft grant of renewal.
The public will have opportunity to comment on the draft reports in July and September 2002. A final EIS will be issued in November 2002.
Government-to-government negotiations with Alaska Native tribes will take place during the renewal process, and if everything goes according to plan, in December 2002 the federal and state governments will decide whether to grant the renewal.
|