Enstar agrees to further review controversial gas line plan

By Sören Wuerth 

TNews Editor

Following a groundswell of local opposition, an official for the gas company planning to clear  cut a nearly mile-long corridor through wetlands and rainforest in Girdwood's lower valley  stated the project required "further review" and "dialogue". 

Enstar wants to bury a 4-inch pipeline that would be bored beneath Glacier Creek, near Ruane  Road, then follow a 20-foot wide corridor to Virgin Creek Road. The corridor would cross two  popular trails and cut through land designated as undeveloped "open space". 

Enstar representatives said its project is an effort to supplement an existing gas line in the  event that pipe fails. In a letter to GBOS, a company official, Steve Cooper, said that while the  company has a "system-wide 99.99 percent reliability rate" accidents could still happen as did  when a construction company hit Enstar's main line serving Girdwood seven years ago.  

The company was able to maintain service, Cooper wrote, because of "fortuitous timing",  "voluntary load reductions", and "luck".  

"It should be noted that if Enstar was unable to conduct the bypass and this particular area  needed to be pinched off all customers on the downstream side of this location (approximately  1,000 homes and businesses) would have lost service," Cooper wrote.  

The company's proposal drew a rash of opposition in July after residents were informed they  had two weeks to provide public comment to the state Department of Natural Resources,  which is overseeing the company's application.  

The plan took Girdwood homeowners by surprise and was met with shock, anger and concern  from local residents, some of whom testified at a GBOS meeting about potential rate increases,  harm to old-growth forest, and lack of consideration of alternatives routes. 

When local residents suggested Enstar consider an alternative route, such running the pipeline  up Karolius Drive where there is an existing road, an Enstar's representative replied that that  route is unfeasible because it would have to cross land owned by Heritage Land Bank, an  agency of the Municipality of Anchorage. 

However Enstar didn't contacted HLB agency, said Shelly Rowton, a former land bank  manager and, had the company asked, HLB would have suggested alternatives. 

"To say that you don't have answers three days before the end of the comment period is  obscene," Rowton said at the July meeting. 

"I think you're trying to pull one over on the town of Girdwood and you should really be  ashamed to say that you came in here to listen. You're not here to listen. You're just here to  save a little bit of face and then say you're just going to go on with this project," she said. 

"You're going to go through old-growth forest that cannot be replaced. You say you're going to  do 15 feet, but you're written answer says you're going to do 20 feet. You're going to destroy  the character of the Joe Danich trail. You're going to destroy the character of the Iditarod  National Historic Trail. I doubt you've been in contact with the US Forest Service."

Following testimony, in which no one spoke in favor of the gas line plan, the board voted to ask  DNR to deny the project and, at a minimum, to extend the comment period until Aug. 21. The  agency granted an extension only until Aug. 3, however, the same date Enstar sent its letter to  GBOS. 

In its response, Enstar vowed to work with Girdwood residents, particularly those who would  be most impacted by the project. 

"Enstar understands that there are certain community members who have expressed concern  about the project, including those with viewsheds that could potentially be affected. To address  this concern, Enstar offers to sit down with the affected landowners and discuss revegetation  in the area closest to their homes," Cooper wrote.