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Cook Inlet Keeper sues state over Osprey platform Environmental assessment proposed for development phase of Redoubt project, when platform converted to produce oil, gas by The Associated Press
A Homer-based environmental group sued the state Jan. 25 to stop dumping of drilling muds and other wastes during the exploration phase from the platform an oil company plans to install in upper Cook Inlet.
Brad van Appel, program director for Cook Inlet Keeper, said the lawsuit was aimed at helping to establish environmental standards for new oil platforms in the inlet.
“We want to set a precedent of looking at everything that needs to be looked at, and doing it as well as it can be done — which means zero discharge,” van Appel said.
Forcenergy Inc. plans to install the $35 million Osprey platform in May at its Redoubt Shoal prospect, about two miles southeast of West Foreland.
The Miami-based company plans to drill four exploration wells and a fifth well for disposal of oil-based drilling muds and cuttings. If the exploration wells find sufficient reserves of oil and gas, Forcenergy plans to convert Osprey for production.
First new platform since 1986 Osprey would be the first platform installed in Cook Inlet since 1986 and the first since the federal Environmental Protection Agency renewed the general permit for industry discharges into the inlet.
The permit, which EPA signed last year, authorizes discharge of water-based drilling muds and cuttings, produced water, treated sanitary waste and other pollutants from existing production platforms.
Companies must seek individual permits to discharge from any new production platforms, but they can ask to discharge from new exploration facilities under the general permit.
EPA has approved Forcenergy’s request to discharge water-based muds and cuttings, treated storm runoff and treated sanitary waste during Osprey’s exploratory phase, said John Amundsen, Forcenergy’s safety, health and environmental manager.
The state reviewed Osprey’s exploratory phase for consistency with the Alaska Coastal Management Plan. However, the state did not include exploratory-phase discharges in its review, because those are covered by the EPA’s general permit, said Glenn Gray, a project analyst for the state Division of Governmental Coordination.
New permits for production If the company converts Osprey for production, it must apply for new permits, Gray said, and any discharges proposed then would be subject to federal and state review.
Cook Inlet Keeper argued that the state should have measured Osprey against the coastal policy habitat standard, which requires that estuaries and offshore areas be managed to preserve fisheries and other biological resources.
The exploration platform would discharge pollutants into an area important to beluga whales, salmon, harbor seals, shorebirds and waterfowl, they said, and it brings the risk for serious spills and blowouts.
Gray said the state Department of Fish and Game was actively involved in review of the exploratory platform. He said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not answer its specific arguments about the habitat policy.
EPA proposes EA for development phase permit The EPA said Jan. 10 that it will do an environmental assessment for the development phase of the Redoubt Shoal project. Forcenergy submitted an application for a new source national pollutant discharge elimination system wastewater discharge permit for the development phase at Redoubt. EPA said the NPDES permit will cover discharge of deck drainage (storm water), sanitary wastewater and domestic waste only. Unlike existing platforms in Cook Inlet, muds and cuttings from development wells at Redoubt will be re-injected into a Class II injection well that will be permitted by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The EPA said the scope of the proposed development includes conversion of the Osprey platform from a manned exploratory platform to a minimally manned production platform; construction of a new oil production facility at Kustatan on the West Forelands for oil separation and power generation; and production and transportation of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids from Redoubt to existing facilities onshore at the Trading Bay production facility.
Proposed, alternative projects The proposed development project, which is subject to a determination by Forcenergy that the project is economic once exploration wells have been drilled, includes 1.8 miles of offshore pipelines/utilities between the Osprey platform and the tip of the West Forelands. The pipeline/utilities would include an eight-inch wet oil line, a six-inch gas line, a 12-inch return water line and a return power/communications cable. There would be 1.5 miles of onshore pipelines/utilities and access road between the tip of the West Forelands and Kustatan, production and power generation facilities at Kustatan, and 7.8 miles of onshore pipelines between Kustatan and the Trading Bay production facilities.
Alternative 1 would route the offshore pipeline directly to Kustatan, rather than to the tip of West Forelands. There would be 3.3 miles of offshore pipeline.
Alternative 2 would route the offshore pipeline directly to the Trading Bay production facility, a 10.5-mile offshore line.
—Kristen Nelson contributed to this story
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