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Kenai spur reroute for LNG still not settled

Redoubt Reporter

 

After electing officers and getting off the ground last month, the Alaska Liquified Natural Gasline Project Advisory Committee dug in for a full round of discussions Monday evening in Nikiski. The group is working fast to give as much local input as possible to the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation before it starts seeking permits.

 

 

The borough put this group together earlier this year because a lot of folks in Nikiski didn’t feel like they had much of a voice as plans were being drawn up to reshape a chunk of their little corner of the Peninsula.

“As you think through these subcommittees, the mayor really wants you to think through how is this going to impact some of our communities and how can some of this PILT money offset those impacts," said borough chief of staff John Quick.

The PILT money he’s talking about is a payment in lieu of taxes. Potentially a windfall of billions to the borough. If the project is ever approved. That’s a long way off. What’s closer is some of the front end work that needs to be done as soon as the project is approved or even before. Like figuring out where the water will come from.

Lisa Parker is AGDC’s stakeholder engagement manager. She says during construction, the project will demand 250 gallons of water per minute.

“Once we’re in operation, that will reduce to 125 gallons per minute. And then the other criterion we have is for maximum fire case. FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) needs us to show we can supply 1,000 gallons per minute for 24 hours. So those are our water needs during construction and operation.”

All of that will have to be settled before March of next year, when a draft environmental impact statement is due. There have been some preliminary talks about tying into the city of Kenai’s water system, but no firm plans yet.

 

While water quantity and quality are things regulators are interested in, the plan to move a section of the Kenai Spur Highway is what residents are most interested in, especially the few that may have to relocate. A public comment period on two proposed options for a reroute recently ended. But a third alternative, drawn up by longtime Nikiski resident Richard McGahan, has become a third option. That route would begin further south than the other two that branch off at roughly milepost 19, avoiding potential erosion issues close to the bluff, utilities and most of the homes that would be affected by the other two plans. Parker says even though the comment period for the road is over, that third alternative might still be considered if it pencils out.

“I will check with administration to see about providing a summary of comments that were received. In the report that we will be preparing as we look at the alternatives, it will include the east, the west and Mr. McGahan’s proposed route if we can get the information in order to do the complete analysis.”

There’s no timeline for when that report will be finished. The advisory group will meet again April 30th.

This post has been updated. The original story reported the next meeting date as May 2nd.