On April 15, 2021, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management issued a Rehearing Order in its docket for the Alaska LNG Project LLC (Docket No. 14-96-LNG). In the Rehearing Order, DOE granted a request for rehearing of a final order issued to Alaska LNG Project LLC (Alaska LNG) for the purpose of conducting two Alaska-specific environmental studies (collectively, the Alaska environmental study proceeding).

On July 2, 2021, DOE issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the Alaska environmental study proceeding (DOE/EIS–0512–S1), consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (see 86 Fed. Reg. 35,280). As set forth in the NOI, the SEIS will include analysis of potential environmental impacts associated with natural gas production on the North Slope of Alaska and a life cycle analysis (LCA) calculating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for LNG exported from the proposed Alaska LNG Project. On August 24, 2021, DOE issued a Notice of Schedule for Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

Additionally, DOE’s Alaska LNG order has been challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Sierra Club v. U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Case No. 20-1503).  That case is currently being held in abeyance, pending further order of the court.  All court filings are available on the D.C. Circuit’s docket through Pacer (Case  No. 20-1503). (A Pacer account is required – the login page is at PACER: Login (uscourts.gov))

DOE determined that it was necessary for the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), which is conducting the SEIS, to conduct additional modeling on an issue central to both studies in the SEIS—the options associated with managing carbon dioxide (CO2) produced with, and removed from, the natural gas supplying the proposed Alaska LNG Project on the North Slope of Alaska. NETL’s analysis will determine the range of potential environmental and production impacts associated with the different carbon management options. NETL will use this analysis in assessing the technical viability of producing natural gas to support the Project, as well as any secondary effects to North Slope oil production. DOE has determined that this additional technical analysis will extend the original SEIS schedule by approximately 60 days. On February 25, 2022, DOE posted a Notice of Amended Schedule in its docket for Alaska LNG Project LLC, Docket No. 14-96-LNG. On October 28, 2022, DOE posted a Second Notice of Amended Schedule in this docket. On March 29, 2023, DOE posted a Third Notice of Amended Schedule in this docket.

When additional information about the SEIS is available, updates will be posted on both the FAST-41 Dashboard and in DOE’s above-referenced docket for Alaska LNG.