Interior Gas Utility outlines construction plans, grants and North Slope LNG timeline

At a meeting of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Committee of the Whole, Elena Suddath, general manager of Interior Gas Utility, gave a quarterly update that outlined upcoming construction plans, grant-funded mainline work in North Pole and a revised timeline for commercial LNG from the North Slope.

Suddath said IGU has about 100 new service agreements to date and plans to continue installing new main lines this construction season. "We have about 100 new service agreements to date," she said. She told the assembly the utility plans to use roughly $2,500,000 in targeted airshed grants to extend mainline in the North Pole area to encourage additional household conversions in the borough’s worst air-quality zone. She also said about $1.5 million remains from last year’s state grant for small mainline extensions to customers who are ready to install service lines and convert to natural gas.

The utility also expects to purchase emergency-response equipment with a grant from the federal pipeline regulator that was paused and later released. Suddath identified the…