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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the natural gas pipeline project proposed by TransCanada and ExxonMobil (The Alaska Pipeline Project) to deliver 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day from Alaska's North Slope to the Alaska-Canada border, where the line would connect with a new pipeline in Canada to feed into North American markets.

This is the first formal step in the National Environmental Policy Act process. The notice of intent was published Aug. 5, 2011, in the Federal Register, the official journal of the U.S. government.

In its notice of intent, FERC asks the public to focus their comments on "potential environmental effects, reasonable alternatives and measures to avoid or lessen environmental impacts" from the pipeline project.

The notice identifies a draft schedule for public scoping meetings, targeted to start in early 2012. The meeting dates and locations will be published at least a month in advance.

FERC, as the lead agency, is preparing the environmental impact statement for use by all federal permitting agencies. The pipeline in Alaska - 745 miles, 48 inches in diameter and moving gas compressed to 2,500 pounds per square inch - would cross primarily federal and state land. The pipeline will run 1,000 miles in Canada before connecting to the existing North American grid.

In addition to attending and commenting at the scoping meetings, people can send comments to FERC by mail and e-mail. Information on how to do this can be found in the Federal Register notice.

More information about The Alaska Pipeline Project filings with FERC can be found on the FERC e-library.  If you have not connected to the e-library before, instructions can be found here.

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