Governor Elect Bill Walker will be sworn in Monday December 1 and has said he is going to keep investigating the details of the Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline.
Walker has said before that he wants to see if its continuance is economic for Alaska.
The Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline, or ASAP, follows much of the same path as the northern part of the Alaska LNG Pipeline, however would terminate near Big Lake.
At this time, both pipelines are working together compiling data according to Alaska LNG’s Steve Butt.
Butt: “What we’re doing is working together, you know you have to gather a lot of information to get the permits required for the pipeline, via technical, boring archaeological information of the site. You have to demonstrate to the regulators that you’re doing it in an environmentally responsible manner. You have to understand what the sites looks like, if you cross a fishery and you make sure there is no impact on any waterway stability, a lot of very technical information that you gather to demonstrate that you’re not adversely impacting the environment. Both projects need that information and what we’re doing is working to gather the information and share it.”
Butt added that both pipelines would not be completed together, it would be one or the other as both projects share the same goal: to deliver natural gas from the North Slope to southcentral Alaska.
Representative Mike Hawker(R) of Anchorage said he is concerned about the future of both pipelines if Walker cuts the ASAP since it is somewhat an “insurance policy” if the larger Alaska LNG Project falls through.