State OKs Gas Line through Virgin Creek Forest

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

A proposal to punch a gas line through old-growth rainforest near Virgin Creek in Girdwood was approved last week after a year hiatus and despite widespread condemnation of the idea.

A year after gas company Enstar promised "further review" of a plan for a 20-foot wide, nearly mile long pipeline, the state Department of Natural Resources gave the company the go-ahead citing a 52-year-old section line easement.

An Enstar official said last year that the line is needed as a backup to its existing line even though the company has a "system-wide 99.99 percent reliability rate."

Numerous residents complained another gas line could cause rate increases, harm to old-growth forest, and compromise trails that criss-cross the proposed route.

The company wants to run the pipeline from the end of Ruane Rd, near Girdwood's Transfer Station, to Virgin Creek Rd. The company would have to drill a tunnel below Glacier Creek, a wild salmon stream, before bisecting a thick rainforest.

In its letter sanctioning the pipeline, DNR responded to comments, mostly stating concerns were "beyond the scope of the decision."

How much the project will cost and whether Enstar customers would see rate increases "has not been disclosed" and disclosure of financial information is up to the company. 

As far as alternative routes, construction disturbance, and concerns about future development as a result do not fall within "the scope of decision." The only comments DNR acknowledged were one supporting "robust" gas development and another saying the line will improve "access to recreation."

While Enstar says in its application indicated it will revegetate the clearcut path by backfilling "to provide a seed bed for native [plant] species," but, in a letter sent last year to the Girdwood Board of Supervisors the company wrote it is required to keep the path cleared to check for leaks and to put up signs.

In response to concerns about impacts to fish and wildlife habitat, DNR cited a letter from the state's fish and game department giving no objection. The agency, however, did suggest a federal permit should be obtained if the area contains eagle nests.

A message left for a DNR official was not returned in time for publication. Enstar's point person for the project, Sterling Lopez, said it was unlikely construction would begin this year and referred other questions to the company's public relations department.

During a meeting last year, a former Anchorage land bank manager said Enstar did not consider alternative routes that would be less damaging to the environment and, had it contacted the Heritage Land Bank, the agency would have surely offered alternatives.

"To say that you don't have answers three days before the end of the comment period is obscene," Shelly Rowton said during last year's 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 your 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."

In its letter approving the project, DNR said the work will "impede access to trails temporarily" but did not say how long trails would be closed. 

DNR also said it does not propose alternative routes, that is Enstar's responsibility and, in a letter to GBOS sent last year, Enstar wrote that it considered cost, safety and engineering. It did not explain whether community concerns and effects on habitat were weighed into its decision on routing.

Following last year's hearing, Girdwood's Board of Supervisors voted to deny Enstar the project. 

The project will likely be discussed Monday, during Girdwood's Land Use Committee meeting.

Residents have until Sept. 17 to file an appeal. The appeal costs $200 and must arrive in person, via fax or by email to the DNR commissioner's office by that date.