The Federal Railroad Administration has given the Alaska Railroad permission to carry liquefied natural gas.
The approval is a first in the United States and was sought as part of the Interior Energy Project, an effort to lower the cost of home heating and electricity in Fairbanks and other portions of Interior Alaska.
The approval was announced earlier this month by the FRA and is of limited utility at this point — it is unclear where the gas would come from in Cook Inlet, and Fairbanks’ natural gas infrastructure is limited.