Report 

Submitted to the 

United States Congress 

by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

 

Thirteenth Report to Congress on Progress Made in Licensing 

and Constructing the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline 

 

February 2012 
Thirteenth Report to Congress on the Alaska Pipeline 

I. Executive Summary 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) submits this 

report pursuant to section 1810 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).1

 Section 

1810 of EPAct 2005 requires that the Commission submit to Congress semi-annual 

reports describing the progress made in licensing and constructing an Alaska natural gas 

pipeline and any impediments thereto. 

 

This report provides an update from the Commission’s Twelfth Report, submitted 

on August 25, 2011. During the period covered by this report, TransCanada Alaska 

Company, LLC (TC Alaska) continued development of the project toward its goal of 

filing a complete application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in 

October 2012. The Commission staff continued to advance the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA) review of the project by conducting public scoping meetings and 

other activities in Alaska. 

II. Status Report 

 A. The Commission’s Activities 

The Commission continues to execute its responsibilities as the lead federal 

agency for conducting the NEPA review of the TC Alaska proposal. Currently, the 

federal permitting agencies are working under the Commission’s pre-filing process and 

will initiate preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) when TC Alaska 

submits a complete application containing all of the information that the Commission and 

other agencies would need to evaluate the proposed project. 

On December 9, 2011, the Commission issued a Notice of Public Scoping 

Meetings to provide schedule and location details for seven scoping meetings in the 

project area. The meetings locations of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Tok, 

Barrow, Nuiqsut, and Kaktovik, initially spanned the period January 18 through February 

8, 2012. The Notice also reminded the public that scoping would close on February 27, 

2012, as previously identified in the Commission’s August 1, 2011 Notice of Intent to 

Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Request for Comments on 

Environmental Issues. 

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 P.L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 594 (2005), 42 U.S.C § 15801 et seq. 
Subsequently, TC Alaska informed the Commission that it intended to delay the 

filing of its draft environmental Resource Reports2

 (expected on December 15) because it 

was in exploratory discussions with the Alaska North Slope gas producers regarding the 

potential for the project to deliver gas to a liquefied natural gas terminal for export 

(“LNG option”). As a result, the Commission issued a Notice of Cancellation for the first 

of the scheduled public scoping meetings (Anchorage).3

 

On January 13, 2012, TC Alaska filed its draft Resource Reports and the 

Commission rescheduled the scoping meeting in Anchorage for February 13, 2012. The 

Commission and the other permitting agencies will be reviewing the reports to identify 

any data gaps that must be filled before the application to the FERC will be complete. 

The Commission formally initiated government-to-government consultation with 

Alaska Native tribes whose villages could be directly affected by the project in 

November 2011. In January and February, the staff began the process of conducting 

consultation meetings with the interested tribes. The Commission is leading this effort on 

behalf of all of the federal agencies with a government-to-government responsibility on 

this project: the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Transportation’s 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). 

 

B. TC Alaska’s Proposal 

The Alaska Pipeline Project (APP), as contemplated by TC Alaska, consists of a 

gas treatment plant (GTP) near Prudhoe Bay, about 58 miles of 32-inch-diameter pipeline 

from the processing plant at the Point Thomson Field to the GTP, and about 745 miles of 

48-inch-diameter mainline pipeline from the GTP to the Alaska-Yukon border. All items 

related to TC Alaska’s project are available to the public in FERC’s eLibrary under TC 

Alaska’s pre-filing docket (Docket No. PF09-11-000). 

 2

 The environmental Resource Reports will constitute the environmental 

component of TC Alaska’s application to the FERC. FERC regulations require that 

applications under the Natural Gas Act contain the following Resource Reports (18 CFR 

380, App. A): 1. General Project Description; 2. Water Uses and Quality; 3. Vegetation 

and Wildlife; 4. Cultural Resources; 5. Socioeconomics; 6. Geological Resources; 

7. Soils; 8. Land Use, Recreation and Aesthetics; 9. Air and Noise Quality; 

10. Alternatives; and 11. Reliability and Safety. 

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 The Notice explained that the draft Resource Reports are necessary to further 

define the project and its potential impacts on the environment in order for the public, the 

Commission, and other federal, tribal, state, and local agencies to properly evaluate and 

provide meaningful scoping comments. 

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As part of the pre-filing process, TC Alaska files monthly status reports with the 

Commission summarizing the major activities it conducted during the reporting period. 

According to its status reports, TC Alaska completed its summer 2011 engineering and 

environmental field programs, and continues analysis of the data collected in the 2010 

and 2011 field seasons. Preliminary planning for the 2012 field program is in progress. 

The company is continuing technology development programs, including frost heave and 

uplift resistance testing and tensile and strain capacity modeling, and is working with 

PHMSA to develop the pipeline design information necessary to meet its regulatory filing 

requirements. 

 In October 2011, TC Alaska contracted with the Alaska Department of Fish and 

Game (ADF&G) to conduct comprehensive subsistence baseline studies in the Alaska 

communities located along the proposed pipeline corridor. This study is being conducted 

over a two-year period by the ADF&G’s Division of Subsistence in collaboration with 

the study communities. In the last report, the Commission stated that TC Alaska had 

delayed initiation of subsistence studies that require more than one year of data gathering 

and analysis, and that the delay could reduce the probability of TC Alaska filing of a 

complete application with the Commission in October 2012. Although not all of the 

communities will be surveyed in time for the FERC filing in October 2012, TC Alaska 

and the relevant agencies have developed a strategy for providing the necessary 

information for inclusion in the draft EIS. 

As described above, TC Alaska filed its draft environmental Resource Reports 

with the Commission on January 13, 2012. The company indicates that it is prepared to 

resolve any issues and deficiencies the agencies identify in the reports in order to file a 

complete application with the Commission by its target date of October 2012. 

III. Related Activities 

A. Operations of the Federal Coordinator 

The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation 

Projects (OFC) continues to coordinate the actions of federal agencies regarding Alaska 

natural gas transportation projects and to provide a liaison function to ensure 

communication with Congress, the State of Alaska, and federal U.S. and Canadian 

agencies. 

Accordingly, the OFC prepared a major federal permits matrix for use by project 

applicants, government agencies, and the public. The matrix uses a web-based format for 

easier searches and comparisons of the relevant agencies, laws, regulations, guidance 

materials, and personnel involved with each major federal authorization needed for 

approval of the project. It also illustrates how the permits and approvals fit within the 

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FERC environmental review process. The permits matrix is available on the OFC’s 

website (www.arcticgas.gov). 

To facilitate the distribution and collection of information for stakeholders, the 

OFC developed a section of its website that focuses on the NEPA review of this project. 

The section includes information on how the public can get involved in the project, a 

schedule of NEPA related meetings, links to NEPA related documents, and information 

on what to expect during each of the NEPA steps, i.e., scoping, draft EIS, final EIS, and 

agency decisions. 

Since the last report, the OFC published its third semi-annual Attention Items 

Update to the project implementation plan. The status of the majority of issues has not 

changed significantly and the office continues to monitor these issues and assist in 

coordination efforts as appropriate between the project proponent and federal permitting 

agencies. 

B. Department of Energy 

The Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO) reports that funds were 

provided for the LPO to work on TC Alaska’s project. However these funds were 

subsequently rescinded in FY 2011 and therefore the LPO is precluded from doing any 

work on the project. The project has been assigned to this office from Fossil Energy, but 

the LPO cannot allocate any resources to it until funding is provided. 

C. Developments in Canada 

According to its status reports, TC Alaska is continuing the commercial process, 

field studies, and public engagement necessary to develop the Canadian segment of the 

APP, which is also known as the Foothills Project. Concurrently, Canada’s Northern 

Pipeline Agency (NPA) continues to coordinate the actions of Canadian federal agencies 

and to engage with the governments of British Columbia and Yukon. The NPA is in 

consultation with nine Yukon First Nations regarding the process of extending the term 

of the existing Foothills pipeline easement agreement beyond the current expiration date 

of September 20, 2012. 

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IV. Conclusion 

Key milestones were achieved in the development phase of TC Alaska’s 

application to the Commission since the last report. Specifically, the Commission staff 

conducted the NEPA scoping meetings and initiated formal Government-to-Government 

consultation with Alaska Native tribes. In addition, TC Alaska filed its draft 

environmental Resource Reports. The upcoming 2012 field program is of critical 

importance for TC Alaska as it works to address the data gaps in its draft Resource 

Reports identified by the permitting agencies in time to file a complete application with 

the Commission in October 2012.