Natural gas for Fairbanks.

• Author: Ehm, Arlen
• Position: Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC

Fairbanks is one of the few major communities along the Railbelt that does not have access to clean-burning, natural gas. A home-grown mom and pop business is changing all that.

This year marked the first time in history that natural gas was delivered to commercial and residential consumers in Fairbanks. Until April, the city relied entirely on coal and heating oil, resulting in poor air quality during the winter months. But newly developed distribution facilities-owned and operated by Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC, a subsidiary of Northern Eclipse LLC has changed all that.

"The old power plant in downtown Fairbanks emits tons and tons of pollutants into the atmosphere every day," said Jim Spencer, FNG's marketing manager. He said natural gas' clean-burning aspect is what makes it attractive to Fairbanks and other communities that want to use it for home heating and electrical generation.

Northern Eclipse purchases gas from Arco Alaska Inc.'s share of the Beluga River Gas Field west of Anchorage (Anchorage's source of natural gas); then FNG converts it into liquefied natural gas at a plant located between Point MacKenzie and Wasilla.

The liquefied gas is then transported to Fairbanks in cryogenic tankers, where it is stored in twin 26,500-gallon cryogenic tanks. As it is needed, it is vaporized into an underground distribution system to be delivered to commercial and residential customers. Getting the gas to customers is the next hurdle.

Pipeline crews are extending the gas main infrastructure in Fairbanks, and FNG anticipates having 10 miles of piping in place by the end of this month, serving 35 commercial and 15 residential customers.

"We now have the gas in proximity to several neighborhoods, but we just didn't have time to get service lines in to everyone who wants gas," said Spencer. He said the most frequent comment from potential customers is "When are you going to get to my house?" Expansion into other areas of Fairbanks should be substantial in 1999.

Getting to this point has been a four-and-a-half-year project of husband and wife team Ray and...