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Corps of Engineers issues SEIS for ASAP
This is the in-state natural gas pipeline the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. has as a backup to the larger Alaska LNG project Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said June 22 that it has prepared the final supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline project.
This is the 733-mile natural gas pipeline system for delivery of gas in-state that the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. has been working as a backup option to the larger, export-driven, Alaska liquefied natural gas project.
The Corps said the public notice on the SEIS closes July 22, and a record of decision on the proposed action will be issued after the 30-day public notice period. The ROD will state the Corps’ decision on whether to authorize the ASAP project, and if so the conditions under which it would be allowed and the factors considered in the decision. The SEIS is available at the ASAP SEIS website: www.asapeis.com.
ASAP work began in 2010 “Today’s publication of the Final SEIS for the ASAP Project is the culmination of extensive engineering and environmental work conducted under the management of AGDC,” AGDC President Keith Meyer said in a June 22 press release.
The ASAP project includes a gas conditioning facility at Prudhoe Bay, the 733-mile-long 36-inch diameter mainline and a 30-mile-long 12-inch lateral line into Fairbanks.
Initial work began on ASAP in 2010.
AGDC joined the Alaska LNG Project in 2014, assuming control of that project in 2017, and said it continued to pursue the regulatory process for ASAP to have a pipeline alternative to provide natural gas to Alaska communities.
“AGDC is advancing two North Slope gas pipeline projects on parallel paths but only one will be built,” said AGDC Senior Vice President Frank Richards. “We have avoided duplication of work efforts and both projects have benefited from data sharing. The Final SEIS for the ASAP Project sets the stage for AGDC to build a pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska and better positions the Alaska LNG Project for success.” Richards said AGDC would leverage the ASAP approval in its work with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to advance the Alaska LNG project “as the federal agencies are now intimately familiar with the environmental conditions along the common alignment.”
Similar characteristics of the projects include buried pipelines, a common mainline alignment for more than 80 percent of the route and provision of natural gas to Alaskans from both. The Alaska LNG project includes a liquefaction facility enabling export of Alaska natural gas as LNG to buyers in Asia.
AGDC said the final SEIS for ASAP, along with the record of decision, will result in three additional federal authorizations later this summer: a Corps-approved wetlands mitigation plan satisfying requirements of the Clean Water Act; a signed programmatic agreement for cultural resources between tribes, agencies and AGDC satisfying requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act; and a federal grant of right of way from the Bureau of Land Management allowing a natural gas pipeline to be constructed and operated on BLM-managed lands.
Alternatives The final SEIS for ASAP includes three alternatives. Alternative 1 includes a buried pipeline except at fault crossings, elevated bridge stream crossings, pigging facilities and block valve locations; the route would bypass Denali National Park and Preserve, the final SEIS says.
The final SEIS reflects conceptual changes to ASAP since the 2012 FEIS for the in-state line was published. That proposal was an enriched natural gas pipeline including natural gas liquids with a length of 737 miles and a 24-inch diameter pipe operating at 2,500 psig (pounds per square inch gauge) with the first six miles within the Prudhoe Bay unit elevated.
The project per AGDC’s 2016 application carries lean gas with no NGLs, has a length of 733 miles and is a 36-inch line at lower pressure, operating at 1,480 psig. The change in gas composition eliminates the need for compressor stations, a straddle and offtake facility at the Fairbanks lateral tie-in and the NGL extraction plant at Cook Inlet.
Alternative 2 includes a Denali National Park and Preserve route variation and a section of pipeline elevated on vertical support members through the Arctic coastal plain from milepost zero to approximately milepost 62 in an area where ice-rich, saturated soils and continuous permafrost are found. The elevated line is at the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the goal is to minimize impacts to permafrost and waters of the U.S. Alternative 2 also includes aerial crossing of the Yukon River using a new suspension bridge - Alternative 1 uses horizontal directional drilling to place the line under the Yukon.
Alternative 3 is the no action alternative.
The final SEIS also reviews alternatives evaluated in the 2012 FEIS and those eliminated from detailed analysis.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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