MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company and MEHC Alaska Gas Transmission Company today filed an application with the State of Alaska Department of Revenue for approval under the Alaska Stranded Gas Development Act for authority to negotiate tax and financial terms with the State of Alaska to facilitate the transportation of stranded Alaskan natural gas. The proposed 745-mile, $6.3 billion pipeline extends from the North Slope area near Prudhoe Bay southward to the Alaska-Yukon border near Beaver Creek...
MAGTC proposes to facilitate the development of stranded Alaskan gas with the construction of a 48-inch diameter high-pressure natural gas pipeline. The project would have an initial design capacity of approximately 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day. At the Alaska-Yukon border, the pipeline will interconnect with a new, companion pipeline in Canada. This line will be built either by TransCanada through its Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. subsidiary, or others. The new pipeline could be an extension of the existing Foothills prebuild pipeline or may be developed by other entities. In either event, the new Canadian facilities would connect Alaskan gas for delivery into multiple existing downstream pipeline systems into virtually every market center in Canada and the lower 48 United States. Proven reserves of stranded gas on the North Slope exceed 35 trillion cubic feet.
With the price of natural gas where it is right now, we've gotta do something, though I'm skeptical about piping it through Canada. Couldn't we pipe this stuff to Valdez and put it on ships like we do the oil?
That could also eliminate a lot of the evironemental impact as this pipeline could be built next to the existing pipeline.
I know the Alyeska pipeline was a major boon for the economy of Alaska and the oil industry in general. I think this gas pipe could have the same effect.