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Conditional ROWs proposed for LNG Project
Alaska Department of Natural Resources has analysis, proposed decision, out for public comment for 2 ROW leases for state lands Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is requesting public comment on an analysis and proposed decision by DNR Commissioner Corri Feige on two right-of-way lease applications from the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. The leases would be conditional because AGDC does not yet have project funding for the proposed Alaska LNG Project, which would move natural gas from Point Thomson and Prudhoe Bay to a liquefaction facility at Nikiski.
Written comments on the proposed ROWs are due by 5 p.m. March 1.
DNR will hold three online public hearings on the proposal: Feb. 23 at 9 a.m., Feb. 24 at noon and Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m. Details on the hearings and documents on the proposal are available at: https://dog.dnr.alaska.gov/Services/Pipeline?pipeline=Alaska%20LNG.
Areas covered The Point Thomson Transmission Line would move natural gas from Point Thomson some 63 miles to the AKLNG gas treatment plant near Deadhorse, with some 62.5 miles of the route on state-owned lands. The route, with related facilities, would occupy some 2,034 acres of state lands during construction and 607 acres during operation. The proposed Point Thomson line would be 32 inches in diameter, with a maximum allowable operating pressure of 1,150 pounds per square inch gauge and be elevated on vertical support members.
The mainline pipeline would transport natural gas some 807 miles from the gas treatment plant to the Nikiski liquefaction facility, with the route roughly paralleling the trans-Alaska oil pipeline route to Livengood and then roughly paralleling the Parks Highway south to the Susitna River where the line would diverge from the highway, running southwest to Beluga, then across Cook Inlet, south to Boulder Point on the Kenai Peninsula and southwest roughly paralleling the shore and public roads to the liquefaction facility at Nikiski.
The mainline ROW includes the gas treatment plant, the one-half mile 60-inch diameter Prudhoe Bay transmission line, the liquefaction facility’s marine facility and some 452 miles of the mainline pipeline. Related facilities include some 632 access roads, 153 potential material sites, 109 potential excess material disposal sites, 57 various work areas and camps, eight compressor stations, one heater station, 11 launchers/receivers and the mainline material offloading facility at Beluga.
DNR said AGDC has requested a nominal 110-foot-wide ROW for pipeline construction and a 53.5-foot-wide ROW for operations. The proposed mainline would be 42 inches in diameter, have a maximum allowable operating pressure of 2,075 psig and be buried for most of the route.
The ROW for the mainline, with related facilities, would occupy some 50,570 acres of state land during construction and some 3,631 acres of state land during operation.
Conditional ROWs The analysis and proposed decision signed by DNR Commissioner Corri Feige says AGDC has the capacity to satisfy some of the standards required by state statute, “but additional technical expertise and project funding must be secured before AGDC is fit, willing, and able to design, construct, operate, and terminate the project.”
While significant work has been completed, “until additional technical expertise and project funding have been obtained, AGDC cannot satisfy the fit, willing, and able requirement” of state statute, Feige said.
State statutes allow the commissioner to offer a conditional ROW, which is what is proposed, providing the applicant up to 10 years to prove they can meet all statutory requirements “and be found fit, wiling, and able to design, construct, operate, and terminate their project.”
Conditional leases under the ROW statute “do not convey a property right in the leasehold,” the commissioner said, have additional conditions and “do not allow construction of the project until the lease has been converted into a conventional AS 38.35.100(a) ROW lease.”
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