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Corps of Engineers issues Northstar permit BP Exploration (Alaska) plans to build both pipeline and island in winter 2000, begin production from field in late 2001 Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
Col. Sheldon Jahn of the Alaska district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed the permit for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s Northstar project May 3.
Decision authority was returned to the Alaska district level of the corps after Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Joseph Westphal denied a request for additional review of the proposed decision in Washington, D.C.
The route of the pipeline was in dispute, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska asking for a higher level review on March 30. Under the permit issued today, the pipeline will be routed from the production island between barrier islands and across Gwydyr Bay and Simpson Lagoon to the shoreline. The route was the shortest alternative among several considered in the environmental impact statement.
The Department of the Interior and the Corps of Engineers have a memorandum of agreement that was the basis for the request for review. Westphal told Barry that a review was done of the district’s decision documents and draft permit, information provided by the state of Alaska and information from BP and also included information from meetings and follow-up conference calls.
Westphal said that while the near shore area of the Beaufort Sea, particularly Gwydyr Bay and Simpson Lagoon “may qualify as an aquatic resource of national importance, we disagree that substantial and unacceptable adverse impacts to the aquatic environment will result” from the decision to issue the permit for alternative No. 2, BP’s proposed route. The corps concluded that alternative No. 2, “will have less overall environmental effect on the aquatic ecosystem” than proposed alternatives. Westphal also noted that 24 special conditions are part of the Corps of Engineers permit and that state approvals include 146 specific stipulations.
The state and other federal agencies supported alternative No. 2. One-year construction schedule BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Paul Laird told PNA May 3 that BP was pleased with the decision and would stick with its most recent timetable for production beginning in late 2001. The island and pipeline, he said, will be constructed next year at the same time.
BP said May 10 that module fabrication work will resume by mid-May at fabrication shops and yards in the Anchorage area. The company said that module fabrication being performed by VECO Construction Inc. and Alaska Petroleum Contractors Inc. will generate more than100 construction jobs in the Anchorage area this year; jobs will increase to more than 200 in early 2000. Work is scheduled to continue until mid-2001, when the facilities will be sea-lifted to the North Slope for installation.
BP said the five modules being built in Anchorage will be used for warehousing, utilities, housing and oil and gas processing. The largest unit, weighing about 3,500 tons, will be the largest oil field module ever built in Alaska.
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