TransCanada sends Alaska pipeline plans to U.S. regulators

TransCanada Corp. has started the highly anticipated process of seeking permits from the U.S. government to build a natural gas pipeline along the Alaska Highway.

The Calgary-based company has submitted its plans for the proposed 2,760-kilometre pipeline to the U.S Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to review.

"It's the first formal step for TransCanada," Tony Palmer, TransCanada's vice-president of Alaska development, told CBC News on Friday.

"I want to assure you and your listeners that TransCanada will continue to focus on costs, schedule and attracting customers."

With TransCanada's application in the energy commission's review process, interested parties can now review engineering, environmental and other documents supporting the company's application, FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said from Washington.

"It gets the public, other federal agencies, state agencies and local agencies involved very early in the process so that all those stakeholders can potentially have some influence on the final application that is ultimately submitted to the commission," Young-Allen said.

Palmer said the company is on track to submit final permit applications by 2012.

TransCanada has the endorsement of the Alaskan state government to build the pipeline, which would run from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska's North Slope area, through the Yukon and northeastern B.C., to a hub in Alberta.

But attracting customers for the line may be a challenge: Rival companies BP and ConocoPhillips, two of the largest gas producers in Alaska, are proposing a competing pipeline, called Denali, which has not been endorsed by the Alaska government.

Palmer said TransCanada will move ahead with its own permit applications, and it will be up to regulators to decide which proposal will get approval.

"They will consider both applications," Palmer said. "After due consideration they will either approve one or both or neither."

Denali filed its paperwork with FERC last June.