Enstar Gas Storage Project Still On Schedule - State Prays While Feds March On

Enstar Gas Storage Project Still On Schedule – State Prays While Feds March On

On Friday Commonwealth North’s Energy Action Coalition, chaired by Mary Ann Pease (NGP Photo-r), heard Executives with Enstar Natural Gas update members on the status of the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska, LLC (CINGS) project.

Enstar Regional Vice President, Colleen Starring (NGP Photo-l) said adequate natural gas storage is critical to Enstar’s mission of providing energy to homes and businesses at all times of the year, particularly during the coldest days of winter. "We’re in a situation when we need the storage now," she said, "and expect our situation will be particularly critical by the winter of 2012."

The new storage facility in Kenai is adjacent to existing gas pipelines. Since demand for home heading is low in the summer and high in the winter Enstar could accumulate natural gas when it was plentiful in warm months and release it from storage as needed.

CINGS Project Manager Richard Gentges (NGP Photo) said the company screened about 50 possible storage sites in Southcentral Alaska, looking for just the right combination of attributes: location, level of existing reservoir depletion, reservoir porosity, and other factors. He said about two dozen state and federal permits were required for the project, but noted that, "The permitting process here looks to be as streamlined as anywhere else in the country."

Starring said the proposal is now before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. She said the Commission is expected to approve CINGS’ request for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity by year-end with Commission action on consumer rates to be ordered by the end of January. Starring added that while several parties have intervened in the process, she expects the parties to all be supportive of the certificate petition. Assuming that regulatory process moves as anticipated, Starring hopes for the storage facility to be ready to support reliable deliverability of winter gas by late 2012. -dh (More CWN photos below.)

The Alaska Standard, By Victor John Yannacone Jr. (B&W Photo) "A Hope and A Prayer". The prayer for relief in the lawsuit filed by the State of Alaska and Governor Sean Parnell against Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the Interior, is just that, a prayer. The sovereign people of the State of Alaska “pray” to a federal judge for judgment against an unaccountable appointed federal cabinet official not elected by the people of the United States. And what is it that the State is praying for?

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(Editor’s note: Recently, the Parnell Administration “petitioned” the federal government to delist some of Alaska’s walrus populations from protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A few days later, the Administration filed a lawsuit seeking relief from the Interior Department’s application of a deepwater Gulf of Mexico drilling moratorium to the shallow waters off-shore Alaska. Last week our columnist commented on the ESA petition. Today, he comments on the moratorium lawsuit: State of Alaska, et ano. v. Ken Salazar, et al. Our venerable columnist created the field of environmental law with the successful action against DDT in 1965. He is a co-founder of the Environmental Defense Fund in 1968. He established the “public trust doctrine” as the foundation of environmental common law. In a note accompanying this column, Yannacone said, “I really don’t mean to demean the efforts of the governor and his attorney general, but their lawsuit is just another exercise in the kind of procedural formality that led the wits and pens of Shakespeare, Swift, Dickens, and Gilbert to mock the law and taunt the lawyers.”)

Victor John Yannacone, jr., Attorney – vyannacone@YannaLaw.com – (US 01) 631-475-0231

Late Friday, David and Mary Ann Pease (NGP Photo) hosted a party for Cathy Giessel (NGP Photo). We would encourage all NGP readers to engage in such social and political events as with every exposure, one’s knowledge of the energy landscape improves