Alyeska asks BLM and state for 30 more years on the pipeline right-of-way

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline could keep moving North Slope crude to Valdez until 2064. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company has applied to the Bureau of Land Management and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for a 30-year renewal of the pipeline's right-of-way, the maximum term allowed by law. The current state lease expires May 2, 2034.

The company filed its state application Sept. 2 under the Right-of-Way Leasing Act. It covers the lease and associated rights, including access roads, airstrips and communication sites. Roughly 343 miles of the pipeline cross state-owned land. The system is owned by Harvest Alaska LLC, which holds 49.1069%, ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska Inc., which holds 29.6102%, and ExxonMobil Pipeline Company LLC, which holds 21.2829%.

"Alyeska is following established federal and state processes for ROW renewal and environmental review, which includes an opportunity for public comment and input on the renewal of the TAPS ROW," the company said in its announcement.

BLM opened federal scoping Aug. 26 and extended it Sept. 8. Comments close Sept. 17. The agency is preparing an environmental assessment rather than an environmental impact statement. An assessment is a narrower review used to determine whether a project's effects are significant enough to require a full EIS, the form of review BLM completed for the last renewal in 2002.

DNR has scheduled two hearings on the state application. A virtual hearing is set for Oct. 13. An in-person hearing runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Valdez Convention and Civic Center.

More than 80% of the revenue that funds Alaska's state government comes from oil and gas, in large part from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola said at an Alaska Oil and Gas Association forum on Aug. 27. "This renewal is so critical to the continued success of our state as we move forward," she said.

The 2002 federal EIS found that renewal and a shorter-term alternative may significantly restrict subsistence activities when cumulative effects are considered. That analysis described the renewal's own subsistence effects as generally small while acknowledging localized restrictions on access to traditional use areas.

Environmental advocates cited in coverage of the filing have argued the pipeline should face a fresh climate review, and some have called for decommissioning. Alyeska's announcement addresses only the company's position.

The pipeline has been in service since 1977.