Regulators Deny More Time to Build LNG Plant in Alaska

According to the Associated Press, federal regulators have denied a request by Yukon Pacific Co. to again give the company more time to build a liquefied natural gas plant in south-central Alaska. The denial by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission creates new questions about an option to liquify natural gas from the North Slope for shipment by sea, which is part of a proposal to build a major pipeline to bring Alaska''s gas to domestic or overseas markets. FERC, in its denial letter last week, said environmental and regulatory standards have changed since the company obtained permission to build in 1995, and those need to be addressed. Permission had been extended repeatedly. But the letter from Jeff C. Wright, director of the office of energy projects, said the company''s ability to build and run an export terminal for liquefied natural gas near Valdez will no longer be valid after Saturday.