Apache Corporation is waiting on two main permits in order to proceed with plans for the 7.5 mile North Road Extension in Nikiski.
Apache spokesperson Lisa Parker…
Parker: “We are currently working still with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to secure the wetlands permit that’s required. And then we are also in the final throes of getting a permit for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There is an eagle nest near the road area there.”
She said the process has taken longer than anticipated because mitigation credits are no longer available outside Anchorage. Apache had planned their wetlands application around mitigation credits.
Parker outlined what mitigation credits are.
Parker: “There’s a formula that the Corps of Engineers has where you allocate how many acres of wetlands you are impacting and then put the value on them and then you pay for the value. So if it was an acre of wetlands you were impacting and they may say that acre is worth $50,000, you’d turn around and buy these credits and pay to the providers $50,000.”
She said Apache expects to know the results of those permit applications by the end of August.
