Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has thrown her support behind a 24-inch "bullet" pipeline to bring natural gas from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska.

The plan is for the project to be in operation by 2015, three to five years before a large-diameter pipeline from the North Slope to the Lower 48 can be constructed.

Anchorage and other southern Alaska communities need gas, because Southcentral Alaska gas fields are being depleted, Palin said.

"There's been a lot of talk about in-state gas, but little action," Palin said at a March 3 press conference.

The governor has named Harry Noah to serve as special coordinator to head a state team to push the project.

Noah is a veteran state agency manager who most recently managed a state land trust that provides revenues for mental health programs.

The idea of a 24-inch pipeline built to the North Slope prompted some criticism from the state Legislature. State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat who co-chairs the Senate Resources Committee, questioned whether it makes sense for a small pipeline to built when a large one following part of the same route would be constructed a few years later.

Gas delivered part of the way through the large pipeline would be much less expensive for consumers in Southcentral Alaska, Wielechowski said.

Enstar Natural Gas Co., the Southcentral Alaska gas utility, is now pursuing the bullet line idea while the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, a state corporation, is pursuing a separate spur line that if built could link with the large diameter pipeline.

The two projects follow different routes to Interior Alaska. Enstar's pipeline would be built parallel to the Parks Highway to Fairbanks, then north along the trans-Alaska pipeline right-of-way.

ANGDA's spur line would connect with the large pipeline in Delta, east of Fairbanks, follow the oil pipeline right-of-way to Glennallen, and then follow the Glenn Highway to the Anchorage area.

Noah said his first task would be to review both routes and settle on the best option. That decision will be made by this summer, he said. The next two tasks will be to secure commitments of gas supplies on the north end of the pipeline either from owners of the Prudhoe Bay field, where there are large gas reserves, or Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and its partners, which are exploring on the southern North Slope.

The next task will be to find customers for the pipeline, he said. These would include utilities in Interior and Southcentral Alaska, as well as possible industrial customers, such as Agrium Corp. plant in Kenai if that company can re-start the shuttered plant.

Once a supply of gas and purchase agreements are in place, the next step would be detailed design and engineering, which would require about $400 million. Obtaining permits and making a decision to actually construct the pipeline would come next.

To complete construction by late 2014, a decision to build the pipeline would be needed no later than June 1, 2011, Noah said.

The "base case" for the project is a 24-inch pipeline that would bring 500 million cubic feet of gas per day from the North Slope to Interior and Southcentral Alaska, he said.

The pipeline would pass through the Nenana Basin west of Fairbanks, where Doyon Ltd., the Interior Alaska Native regional corporation, plans to explore for gas this summer with a group of partners.

Noah gave credit both ANDGA and Enstar for the work they have done on both alternatives. He said the state's role should be to facilitate and reduce risks on an in-state pipeline, but leave construction and ownership to private industry.

Palin has also introduced legislation that would give the state gas agency new authority to develop a gas pipeline anywhere in the state. The authority is now constrained by law to work on a pipeline to a liquefied natural gas export project or a spur pipeline to Southcentral Alaska, the governor said.

"Alaskans have been excited about the progress made toward our big gas line, but we know that we cannot wait for that project to come to fruition before addressing our own heating and power-generating needs," Palin said in a statement.

Two industry groups are also at work on a large-diameter pipeline that would be built to the Lower 48 states through Interior Alaska. One is the Denali pipeline led by BP and ConocoPhillips. The second is an effort led by TransCanada Corp. Both groups plan open seasons to solicit customers for shipping gas in 2010.

Both the BP-ConocoPhillips and TransCanada projects would move 4 billion to 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the North Slope to Alberta and the Lower 48.

Tim Bradner can be reached at timbradner.@alaskajournal.com.