Cordova wary as pipeline operator seeks a fast-tracked 30-year renewal

The company that runs the trans-Alaska pipeline wants to lock in its right to cross federal land for another 30 years — and it's asking the government to decide fast, on a shortened environmental review. That worries officials in Cordova, who still live with the memory of the Exxon Valdez spill.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company has asked the Bureau of Land Management to renew the pipeline's federal right-of-way for 30 years, seven years before the current one expires in 2034, and wants an answer by the end of this year. Dave Jenka, Cordova's representative to the citizens' advisory council formed after the 1989 spill, laid it out for the City Council on Wednesday.

What has local officials uneasy is how the government plans to review it. For the last renewal in 2004, regulators did a full environmental impact statement. This time they're doing a lighter environmental assessment — "much more narrow and simple," Jenka said — under a February 2025 order directing the Interior Department to speed up energy permitting in Alaska. BLM's state director said the agency is "acting now to secure the pipeline's future" as it works to open drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve and the Arctic refuge.

The advisory council is pushing for a shorter renewal — 10 or 15 years instead of 30 — arguing the aging terminal warrants closer, more frequent scrutiny. "It's an aging infrastructure at the terminal," Jenka said, noting some equipment dates to the terminal's original construction and that an air-quality permit lapsed two years ago.

Cordova's mayor raised a sharper concern: what happens when the pipeline's life is over. Kristin Smith said any new lease should force Alyeska to set aside money to eventually take the line down and restore the land. "Otherwise, you know, they would be within their rights to just walk away from it," she said. A council member called the fast-tracked review troubling, and one resident told the council the news brought back the morning of the spill. "I'm really distressed to hear this Alyeska news because I remember the morning of the oil spill as many people do," she said.

The council agreed to send BLM a comment letter before the deadline. Neither Alyeska nor BLM addressed the meeting. Public comments are due to BLM by 10 pm Sept. 10.