OFC Part of U.S. Delegation on Bilateral Energy Talks With Canada

Delegations from the United States and Canada met this month at the annual Energy Consultative Mechanism [ECM] meeting in Ottawa. The meeting provides a forum for both countries to review bilateral energy trade and to explore mechanisms for strengthening and deepening the largest bilateral energy relationship in the world.

For the past three years, the Department of State has requested that the Office of the Federal Coordinator (OFC) present the Alaska natural gas pipeline update at the bilateral discussions.

“Our relationship with Canada is vitally important on many levels,” said Federal Coordinator Drue Pearce, “and the OFC has been working diligently with our counterparts in Canada to coordinate all pipeline-related issues between our two countries. Both applicants proposing to build the Alaska natural gas pipeline are offering routes that will stretch over 1,000 miles through Canada, more than the distance in Alaska, and our participation in this year’s meetings in Ottawa was just one of many steps we take to provide information on what will be North America’s largest private construction project.”

OFC Director of Permits, Scheduling and Compliance William Doyle represented the OFC and told the gathering that the project will create tens of thousands of good paying, green jobs and a new source of clean North American energy. He reported on the progress made by both applicants – Denali—The Alaska Gas Pipeline and The Alaska Pipeline Project– as well as the work being done by the OFC. Specifically, Doyle said the OFC is:

• Leading a Technical Review Team (TVT) that discusses the challenging technical issues and includes representatives from federal and state of Alaska agencies;
• Creating a Permit Matrix which will list the federal and state agency data needs for each U.S. permit and authorization that applicants will need to secure;
• Drafting the consolidated implementation plan for each applicant;
• Managing conflicts among federal agencies and between the applicants and federal agencies; and,
• Meeting regularly with the U.S. federal interagency team, the FERC staff, the State of Alaska, and officials with the Government of Canada;

When completed, the 1,700-mile pipeline would deliver enough natural gas to supply about 7 percent of America’s annual consumption of natural gas.