JUNEAU — Federal regulators are preparing to study the environmental impacts of building a major natural gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to Canada.
The study planned by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is necessary for permits to be issued to build and operate any line. FERC said the reason for starting now — before a project has even been nailed down — is to encourage early involvement by interested parties in the process and to identify and resolve problems before TransCanada Corp. makes its permit application.
A TransCanada spokesman, James Millar, said the company remains on track to file major permitting applications with FERC and Canadian regulators next year.
TransCanada is working with Exxon Mobil Corp. to advance a major gas pipeline project in the state. Alaskans have long dreamed of a major gas pipeline to help shore up revenues from declining oil production, create jobs and provide a more reliable source of energy.
TransCanada is proceeding with the promise of up to $500 million in cost reimbursements from the state under terms of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. It has proposed two routes: one leading from the North Slope into Alberta, Canada, where gas could be moved on existing systems to North American markets; the other, shorter, cheaper option leading to Valdez, where gas would be liquefied at a facility constructed by other and then shipped to market.
In a notice of intent, published Friday, FERC said it is focusing on the Alberta route for now because it has received “very little information” about the other Valdez option.
Earlier this year, TransCanada told FERC a route would only be determined when agreements with gas shippers are finalized; that hasn’t happened yet, and details surrounding route selection remain confidential.
But the company also said its current work efforts are focused on the Alberta option. Millar said the purpose in doing that was to “progress the project efficiently and advance regulatory work.”
For the last year, TransCanada has said it’s talking with potential shippers about its plans. It has given no timetable for how long those talks might run and it’s not clear whether those talks will lead to the signing of precedent agreements.
Millar said the company is pushing ahead on several fronts.
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Add commentso much for the fair and
So much for the "fair and impartial study of both the Valdez and Canada options", as was implied in the AGIA law. We`re being cheated out of a fair hearing for ANY Valdez option, either a state-owned infrastructure, or owned by an Exxon "consortium" like the current TAPS oil pipeline. What`s best for the state, and fighting for it, isn`t always aligned with the Exxon board of directors, as is apparent in this joint swindle attempt by US regulators and a company created by the Canadian government. While Alaska`s federal reps are too busy defending getting their hands caught in so many cookie jars, our resources are being set up for theft. We have two years to hold our horses, and to keep this governor from giving away the farm on a patently UN-economic AGIA, and convince our state "leaders" to read and act on the new Wood/Mackenzie report on the current and projected benefit of the Valdez option. Alaskans are being disenfranchised AGAIN. At least 138,000 of them that I know about who voted on this issue in 2002. Yet here we are being sold a bill of goods about going to Canada with ALASKA GAS, where they are building SEVERAL natural gas EXPORT plants to EXPORT gas FROM Canada to the western pacific!!!!! Now all you smart republican party apologists who got this governor shoved into office, please explain your stand on this issue before this "special" Senate Resources committee white-washes the garden hose pipeline from the two largest conventional natural gas basins on the North American continent. Do your jobs we elected you to do, and submit some questions to be asked by this committee. Ask your reps and senators why they supporting a failed AGIA and sentencing Alaskans to decades without energy price relief across this state by pushing this colossal waste of billions of state dollars. This tiny "ASAP" line will kill prospects for a large line later on that would bring prosperity across this state, and not just to the largest and most influential city (behind Seattle of course).http://www.starzhost.com/petroleumnews/pdfarch/311875122.pdf#page=1