The pipeline right-of-way comment window got another week

The public has another week to comment on whether the trans-Alaska pipeline keeps its federal right-of-way for another 30 years.

The Bureau of Land Management pushed the scoping deadline to Sept. 17 from Sept. 10. The agency's notice gives no reason for the extension.

Alaska News previously reported that the pipeline's owners are seeking the renewal more than seven years before the current authorization expires in January 2034, and that the BLM is reviewing it as an environmental assessment rather than the fuller environmental impact statement it used last time. Scoping is the phase when the agency decides what its review will examine, which makes it the public's main chance to shape what gets studied.

The 800-mile line has carried North Slope oil to Valdez since 1977 and averaged 463,000 barrels a day last year. Comment instructions are posted on the BLM National NEPA Register.