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DNR Collecting Comments On Natural Gas Pipeline To Power Proposed Donlin Mine

Donlin Gold has applied for a lease to construct a 315-mile natural gas pipeline from Cook Inlet to the proposed mine site on the Kuskokwim River.
Screenshot of Donlin Gold's draft permit application
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Alaska Department of Natural Resources

If constructed, the proposed Donlin gold mine will need a huge power source. The company wants to construct a 315-mile natural gas pipeline from Beluga Point on Cook Inlet to the mine site near Crooked Creek on the Kuskokwim River. To cross roughly 207 miles of state land, the pipeline needs a lease from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. On Monday, department officials traveled to Bethel to gather public comment on the project.

Only two people spoke. One of them, Bethel resident Mark Springer, supports the pipeline.

“And the reason I’m in favor of that," he explained, "is because it will bring a substantial amount of inexpensive power fuel to our region.”

Springer suggested that the pipeline be overseen by local communities forming a regional port authority, that the pipeline be regulated by the public utilities commission, and that it be constructed even larger than proposed, in order to bring more fuel to the region.

Another Bethel resident, Raymond “Thor” Williams, also commented. He serves as Bethel's Vice Mayor but was representing only himself at the meeting, saying he hopes the state ensures protection of the land and requires the financial resources from Donlin to assure that protection. Otherwise, he was there to listen and learn more about the project.

“So I’m just trying to continue to gain any information on how this is coming about, where this is going to impact us with our fish and game, and our property, and those types of aspects,” Williams said.

About a dozen other people in attendance were also there to learn about the project. Father Martin Nicolai rode down in a river cab in the rain on behalf of his village corporation, Kwethluk Incorporated.

“I’ve just come to the meeting to mostly listen, and possibly gather information that we can bring back to the community,” Nicolai explained.

The Bethel Orutsararmiut Native Council opposes the proposed mine, and several of the tribe's employees were there to learn more about project. ONC fisheries biologist Janessa Esquible wanted to know what impact the pipeline’s construction could have on the many waterways it would cross. For her, any risk to wild habitat is too much.

“Nothing is guaranteed. Any risk to subsistence in this region is a pretty high risk relative to other areas where subsistence may not be as important,” she said.

The state oversees 21 pipelines across Alaska, the most famous being the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Cathe Heroy, with the Department of Natural Resources, led the meeting and sat down for an interview. She explained that the department evaluates projects from the stance that pipelines are good for the state economy.

Cathe Heroy: However, you can't just let pipelines be built randomly, so you have to consider whether a specific pipeline and the company that wants to build it are safe. Whether the company is "fit, willing, and able" is the term from statute. Whether they can capably build the project that they are proposing to build.

KYUK: The entire length of this 315-mile pipeline would be buried?

Heroy: Most of the 315-mile pipeline would be buried. There are two sections that are proposed to be above ground. Those are at fault crossings: the Denali fault and the Castle Mountain fault. Both of those are above ground because that's a more safe means of dealing with a fault crossing. It's been successfully used at the Denali fault crossing by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. That's survived quite well across several earthquakes that we've had in the state, so it's been determined that that's the best engineering design to use for a fault crossing. But for the bulk of the pipeline, the pipeline itself will be buried, and it is just a 14-inch natural gas pipeline being buried in a trench across the proposed alignment.

KYUK: So if it's buried, then people would still be able to access that land and animals migrate over that land?

Heroy: That's correct. The surface of the land will be open for access. It's not being fenced off, except in very small areas. There are some safety valves, check valves they're called, along the pipeline alignment. Those would be allowed to be fenced in for safety purposes, but the bulk of the alignment is open for access by animals and by humans. It's still available for other uses, and the pipeline is not a physical obstruction. We're not trying to build a wall across the state of Alaska here.

KYUK: People have said that if this natural gas pipeline is coming to the region, then it could be tapped to provide energy for communities along the Kuskokwim River, maybe even the Yukon River. Would that be the case?

Heroy: The pipeline is being built with excess. It's larger than the applicant's capacity needs. So if it is large enough to carry more product to other communities. However, it's not currently being proposed to be built to connect to those communities. If communities can develop a pipeline to reach this infrastructure, then they would be allowed to tap into it. There's a whole additional process similar to this that they would need to go through, but the pipeline is certainly available for connections to two other entities.

KYUK: But it would be on the onus of the community to create the infrastructure to connect to this pipeline?

Heroy: That is correct.

KYUK: This isn't the first public meeting on this. What other public comments have been collected on the project?

Heroy: The other meetings that we've had so far, last week we had a meeting in Tyonek. Largely they had questions just about the process, about what the pipeline authorization is, not specific concerns. Particularly, there was some inquiries about how this might impact the fish and game resources. So people are interested in what the impacts of pipeline might have on the resources that they utilize. Likewise, the community of McGrath and the community of Nikolai came to us with questions about how the pipeline could potentially impact the resources that they're currently using.

KYUK: And that, of course, is the biggest concern in this region whenever any aspect of the proposed Donlin gold mine comes up, is how would this impact subsistence. So how do you address that?

Heroy: In the case of the pipeline, the greatest impacts are going to be during the construction phase. So the biggest mitigation that really can be applied is the timing of it: making sure that the construction is happening at a season when it has the least impact on the users of the area. So I can tell you that a bulk of the pipeline is being proposed to be constructed in the winter when it's not really a harvest season, it's not hunting season, so it's hopefully going to have the least direct impact on any of the users of the proposed alignment.

KYUK: The Iditarod Race is happening right now. As I understand it, the pipeline would have some interaction with that historic trail. What interaction would that be?

Heroy: It is proposed to have a few, I think four crossings, and then be near the trail for a much shorter distance than originally proposed. They have come up with an alternative location that's shifted about a mile away from the trail and should have significantly less impacts than originally considered.

Comments on the pipeline are due to DNR by March 22 by 5 p.m. Donlin Gold has also applied for an easement to bury a fiber optic cable along the pipeline to monitor pipeline activity. Comments for that project are due a week later on March 29.

DNR is hosting three more meetings to gather public comment. DNR will be in Aniak on March 6, in Anchorage at the Atwood Conference Center on March 12, and at the Skwentna Roadhouse on March 13.

Written comments can be mailed to: 3651 Penland Parkway Anchorage, AK 99508.

Comments can be emailed to DNR.PCO.records@alaska.gov or faxed to 907-269-6880

Anna Rose MacArthur served as KYUK's News Director from 2015-2022.