Alaskan village gets free gas

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICES

Next winter, residents in the North Slope village of Nuiqsut hope to be heating their homes with free and clean-burning natural gas instead of the pricey, dirty oil they use now.

The gas would be piped in from the Alpine oil and gas field, eight miles north of the Inupiat village of about 450 people. The field is operated by Conoco Phillips Alaska Inc., the state’s largest oil and gas producer.

Nuiqsut residents negotiated for the gas to offset the inconvenience of having industry move in to their neighborhood.

When the Alpine field was discovered in 1996 and began pumping oil four years later, partially occupying village land, the villagers made getting gas a priority.

The Barrow-based North Slope Borough, on behalf of Nuiqsut, is advertising for a contractor to build a distribution system that will hook in the village’s 90 to 100 homes. Plans are to bring gas to the village’s schools, electric power plant and government buildings later.

Construction is expected to cost $2 million to $3 million. A 3.5-inch pipeline from the Alpine field to Nuiqsut has been built.