State gets timeline for federal environmental review of Alaska LNG project

This illustration shows what a liquefaction plant could look like. (Image courtesy Alaska LNG)

The federal agency responsible for studying the environmental impact of the Alaska LNG project has released a timeline for completing that review.

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced on Tuesday, March 13, that it planned to release a draft of the final Environmental Impact Statement in about a year.

If the federal commission sticks to that schedule, they could authorize the project as early as March of 2020.

The state was hoping to get through that permitting process by 2019 and begin construction.

Still, Alaska Gasline Development Corporation President Keith Meyer said in a press release that the schedule will keep the gas export project on track to come online by 2025.

The state corporation is still looking for customers for Alaska’s gas and partners to help finance the $45 billion project.

Rashah McChesney is a photojournalist turned radio journalist who has been telling stories in Alaska since 2012. Before joining Alaska's Energy Desk , she worked at Kenai's Peninsula Clarion and the Juneau bureau of the Associated Press. She is a graduate of Iowa State University's Greenlee Journalism School and has worked in public television, newspapers and now radio, all in the quest to become the Swiss Army knife of storytellers.

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