Army Corps submits draft impact statement for Alaska gas ‘bullet’ pipeline

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Army Corps of Engineers has submitted a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the federal Environmental Protection Agency for a proposed 737-mile gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Cook Inlet.

The small-diameter pipeline, expected to cost $8.4 billion, would be complete by 2019, according to the notice published in the Federal Register on Jan. 20.

The Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline (ASAP) will be a 24-inch pipeline running along the Dalton and Parks highways to the coast. It would run to the west of Fairbanks, with a 12-inch spur line from Dunbar to Fairbanks. 

The plan for the pipeline came about from a legislative directive in 2010, and it  has been called everything from a "bullet line" to a "pencil line," the latter term coming from those who say the diameter is too small.

At first, the line would carry up to 250 million cubic feet per day, about half of its ultimate capacity, the report says. Fairbanks would be supplied with 60 million cubic feet per day