The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission invited the public to offer input on the environmental review of the proposed Alaska North Slope natural gas pipeline project, at a scoping meeting Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage. The meeting started with presentations on the project and the environmental review process, followed by public comment. The meeting was streamed live by the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects and is available for viewing by following the link at the bottom of the page.
The Alaska Pipeline Project, a partnership of TransCanada and ExxonMobil, is proposing to build a gas pipeline that would span 803 miles of Alaska – from Point Thomson to Prudhoe Bay to the Canadian border – en route to a terminus at the British Columbia-Alberta border. The proposal calls for construction to start in 2016, with pipeline startup in late 2020. The pipeline would carry 4.5 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas from North Slope fields, targeting Lower 48 markets.
In August 2011, FERC announced it will prepare an environmental impact statement on the Alaska portion of the project. FERC staff members are holding seven scoping meetings in Alaska to help define what environmental effects the impact statement will consider. The Anchorage meeting was the last one on the schedule. The formal scoping period ended Febuary 27, 2012. Although the deadline for comments under the scoping process has passed, agencies will accept public input throughout the entire NEPA process.
The project sponsor's draft environmental reports filed with FERC in January 2012 are available on our environmental review documents page and from FERC's eLibrary (Docket No. PF09-011). The more than 4,500 pages of documents – called draft resource reports – detail and discuss the project's potential impact on soils, vegetation, streams, lakes, wetlands, water quality, wildlife, fish and other resources along the pipeline corridor to the Canadian border.
More information about FERC's environmental impact statement process and the project is available in the Notice of Intent and attached documents or by visiting our NEPA page. For additional information on project documents, go to FERC's eLibrary, click on General Search, and enter Docket No. PF09-011. Or call 868-208-3372.
