Proposed Land Exchange
What is being proposed?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is considering a proposed land exchange with the Conservation Fund (TCF) in Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge (Tetlin Refuge). In the summer of 2011, the Alaska Pipeline Project (APP) proposed a land exchange as a means of acquiring an easement across Tetlin Refuge - one of many steps that would be necessary before building the APP’s proposed natural gas pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska to Canada. To comply with long-standing contractual agreements in Canada, any pipeline corridor crossing the border from Alaska must first cross about 2 miles of Tetlin Refuge.
Under the terms of the proposed land exchange, the Service would transfer to TCF a parcel containing approximately 400 acres of Tetlin Refuge land that joins the Canadian border on the east and is 300 feet from the Alaska Highway at its northern boundary. The parcel contains the previously disturbed pipeline corridor of the former ‘Haines to Fairbanks’ pipeline. After receiving title to the land, TCF would issue an easement (comprising about 80 acres) for the Alaska Pipeline Project.
In exchange, TCF would:
- Set up a $500,000 fund, financed by APP, to purchase additional lands for addition to the Tetlin Refuge or other National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. These land purchases would be from willing sellers of property having suitable wildlife habitat.
- Transfer through exchange and donation about 515 acres to the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.
The APP's current regulatory schedule calls for submission of its application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October of 2012. Completion of the land exchange by that same date is consistent with the APP schedule.
Please see the Frequently Asked Questions and Maps (parcel) (location) links for additional details about the proposed exchange.
How do I comment on the Proposed Exchange?
The Service is preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) to assess potential impacts of the proposed land exchange. There will be two opportunities for the public to provide comments. Comments postmarked by March 5, 2012 will help us prepare the Draft Environmental Assessment, which we expect to release in May 2012. After releasing the Draft EA, the public will have an additional 30 days to comment on the draft document. We expect to release the Final EA this summer
Written comments may be submitted via email to: fw7_tetlin_planning@fws.gov or by U.S. mail to:
Ryan Mollnow, Refuge Manager
Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 779
Tok, AK 99780
The Service also accepted comments at the following public scoping meetings:
- Northway February 21, 2012, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, at the Northway Community Hall
- Tok February 22, 2012, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, at Fast Eddy’s
How to make Effective Comments on the Draft EA
Your comments on the Draft EA should be as specific as possible. While we welcome all comments, we will only address "substantive" comments in the Final EA. Examples of "substantive" comments include those that relate to missing or incorrect data used in the effects analysis or those that identify additional impacts that were not discussed in the Draft EA. As with other parts of the NEPA process, this public comment period is not an opportunity to vote on the proposed land exchange. Instead we are interested in how we can revise the Draft EA to produce a better document and your reasons for suggesting changes. Lastly, submit your comments on the Draft EA within the 30-day comment period (April 13 to May 15, 2012). This will help ensure that we are aware of the issues and concerns we should address in the EA.
Last updated: April 13, 2012
