The Biden administration green-lit an 807-mile natural gas pipeline project in Alaska that environmentalists blasted as a threat to the climate and wildlife.
The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a supplemental record of decision, reaffirming its original approval of the project in 2020 under the Trump administration, but amending it to include additional environmental protections. In addition to the pipeline, the $38.7 billion project proposed by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) also includes liquefied natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure.
“The Department of Energy today issued an order amending a 2020 decision to impose new environmental requirements that prevents venting carbon dioxide, in addition to reaffirming all prior environmental conditions,” the DOE said in a statement. “This order does not approve construction of the project — that was done by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2020.”
“This order also does not evaluate the long-term viability of the project related to factors outside of DOE’s regulatory scope,” the statement continued. “FERC, an independent agency, has regulatory oversight of the siting, construction, and operation of the Alaska LNG project. The State of Alaska’s [AGDC] is developing an Alaska LNG project and has not yet reached a final investment decision on whether to construct the project at all.”
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The AGDC — which the Alaska state legislature officially created a decade ago with a mandate of maximizing the state’s vast natural gas reserves — first proposed the LNG pipeline and export project in 2014. After years of environmental impact analysis, FERC authorized the project to be constructed in May 2020.
Also in 2020, the DOE authorized AGDC to export LNG produced from Alaskan sources to any country with which the United States has not entered into a free trade agreement. The decision Thursday reaffirms that authorization with the added carbon dioxide venting prohibitions.
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“With this supplemental record of decision, the Biden Administration has reaffirmed the authorization for and climate benefits of the Alaska LNG Project, which will provide Alaskans and U.S. allies with a significant source of low-emissions, responsibly produced energy consistent with international environmental priorities,” AGDC President Frank Richards said in a statement.
“Upon initial review this supplemental decision adds to the record of support for Alaska LNG and we will review it carefully as our work developing this important project continues,” he added.
In early January, the DOE published its final supplemental environmental impact statement which determined the project would have a negligible greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions impact and may even result in lower emissions worldwide. The report stated the project “would not increase GHG emissions when providing the same services to society (through production of natural gas and crude oil).”
According to AGDC, the project would additionally create 10,000 jobs during construction and 1,000 permanent jobs. It would also have an average throughput of 3.1 billion cubic feet of LNG per day, much of which would be delivered to Alaskans.
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“This is a significant step toward getting more jobs for our families and a boost toward getting the Alaska LNG pipeline project built,” said Rick Whitbeck, the Alaska state director of Power The Future, a pro-energy group. “The approval proves that the Biden Administration finally acknowledges the key role fossil fuels play in our energy future.”
However, environmental groups led by the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity blasted the decision and said it would worsen climate change. They also threatened legal action.
“The proposed Alaska LNG export project would threaten Arctic wildlife and exacerbate the climate crisis by locking in decades of increased gas extraction and exports at a time when the science is clear that we must rapidly transition away from fossil fuels,” said Andrea Feniger, the director of Sierra Club’s Alaska chapter.
“Claiming that a project like this could possibly be in the public interest isn’t just out of step with the Biden administration’s stated commitment to climate action — it’s out of step with reality. We will pursue every available avenue to ensure that this ill-advised project is never built.”
Liz Jones, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, added that it was “painful” to see the DOE green-light the project a month after the Biden administration approved the Willow Project, a massive oil drilling project in northern Alaska.
“This project will send billions of cubic feet of gas a day across Alaska and through waters teeming with wildlife, all to be burned up on foreign shores into our overheating atmosphere,” Jones said. “The Alaska LNG project should never have been approved.”