Written
by Chloe Marie – Research Fellow
Last
week, our Shale Law in the Spotlight article
addressed legal development relating to the Constitution pipeline, the PennEast
pipeline, the Rover pipeline, and the Northern Access pipeline. Another article
posted two weeks ago discussed the legal development relating to the Atlantic
Sunrise pipeline, the Northeast Supply Enhancement, and the Marine East
pipeline. This third and last article will address the recent pipeline
developments and expansion in Pennsylvania by providing an overview on the
development of the Equitrans Expansion project, the Delaware River Pipeline
Restoration Relocation project, the Greater Philadelphia Expansion project, the
Orion Pipeline project, and the Triad Expansion project.
The Equitrans Expansion Project
is part of a two project proposal, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline
project, to transport about 600,000 dekatherms per day of central Appalachian natural
gas to Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. markets. Equitrans, LP,
plans to construct and operate 7.87 miles of new pipeline consisting of 2.99
miles of new pipeline in Greene County, PA, extending from the new Redhook
Compression station to existing interconnects, including Texas Eastern
Transmission, LP, and Dominion Transmission, Inc., and to a future interconnect
in Wetzel County, WV, and of 4.26 miles of new pipeline running in Allegheny
and Washington Counties, PA, from the Applegate Gathering System to existing
facilities in the southern U.S.
In
April 2015, Equitrans, LP, filed a request to initiate the pre-filing review
process and in October 2015, filed a Certificate Application with FERC. On
September 16, 2016, FERC released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
stating that the environmental impacts would be reduced to a minimum. FERC was
expected to issue a Final EIS in early March 2017, however, on April 6, 2017;
FERC issued a Notice of Revised Schedule for Environmental Review of the
Mountain Valley Project and the Equitrans Expansion Project.
FERC declared that it “only recently received information necessary . . . to
complete our environmental review;” thus a Final EIS should be finalized by
June 23, 2017.
The
Delaware River Pipeline Relocation project
involves abandoning 2.4 miles of natural gas pipeline running under the
Delaware River and replacing it with 2.6 miles of larger diameter pipeline to
connect the Paulsboro Refinery in Paulsboro, Gloucester Country, NJ, to the
existing Spectra transmission line in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, PA. This
project is operated by Paulsboro Natural Pipeline Gas Company, LLC, (PNGPC) and
would increase natural gas transportation capacity from 38 million cubic feet
per day to 57.7 million cubic feet per day. The project purpose is to
“facilitate the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ dredging activities for
the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project.”
PNGPC
filed an application with FERC in December 2015 to obtain a Certificate of
Public Convenience and Necessity for the Delaware River Pipeline Relocation
project. In May 2016, FERC issued a Notice of Schedule for
Environmental Review of the Proposed Delaware River Pipeline
Relocation Project
and on September 7, 2016, issued an order granting authorization
to abandon and replace a portion of the existing pipeline from the Delaware
River. Paulsboro, however, is still waiting to obtain certain environmental
permits. Interestingly, in a letter dated December 9, 2016, the Delaware
Riverkeeper Network (DRN) expressed concerns that the proposed project “does
not comply with Chapter 105 of the Pennsylvania Code and is not consistent with
401 Water Quality Certification requirements in the Clean Water Act due to
adverse impacts to waters and wetlands, adverse and unmitigated impacts on protected
uses and the maintenance and propagation of indigenous fish and habitat.”
The
Greater Philadelphia Expansion project
would extend the existing Philadelphia Lateral, a section of the dual Texas
Eastern Pipelines, from the Eagle Compressor Station along the dual Texas
Eastern pipelines to the Chester Junction Station. From the Junction Station
point, the Philadelphia Lateral would divide into two separate pipelines,
respectively terminating near the Delaware-Pennsylvania border and near the
City of Philadelphia. The Texas Eastern Pipeline System carries approximately
550,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas and the proposed expansion project
would increase production capacity up to 475,000 dekatherms per day. According
to Enbridge Inc., this project “will help establish the [Greater
Philadelphia] region as an energy hub, which has become a key
priority of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce to attract and grow business
and fuel economic development in the region.”
In
May 2015, Spectra Energy – now Enbridge, Inc., following its merger with
Spectra Energy Corp. in February 2017 – completed the open season, which
started from March 25, 2015, to May 8, 2015. According to the energy company,
“the response from the market was both positive and favorable, in line with
expectations.” No certificate application has been submitted yet to the FERC,
however, Enbridge, Inc., expects an in-service date in 2019.
The Orion
pipeline project is an expansion project operated by the Tennessee Gas
Pipeline, LLC, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc., involving the installation
of 13 miles of pipeline looping located in Pike and Wayne Counties,
Pennsylvania. The proposed pipeline would connect with the 300 Line existing
pipeline and would deliver up to 135,000 dekatherms of Marcellus natural gas per
day to markets in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.
In
October 2015, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company filed a Certificate
Application with FERC and FERC approved the construction and operation of the
Orion pipeline project on February 2, 2017. As of April 5, 2017, all federal
authorizations have been obtained and on March 29, 2017, the contractor started
to mobilize the resources needed to construct and operate the site. The Company
planned an in-service date in June 2018.
As
for the Triad Expansion project,
it is another expansion project
operated by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, LLC, which intends to build 7
miles of pipeline looping along Tennessee’s existing line right-of-way in Lenox
and Clifford Townships, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The project expects
to increase natural gas delivery capacity by approximately 180,000 dekatherms
per day.
In
June 2015, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company filed an application with FERC to
obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, and on December 30,
2016, FERC issued an Order granting approval to construct and operate the Triad
Expansion Project. As of March 29, 2017, the company received all federal
authorizations required for the project and construction is expected to start
in June 2017 with an in-service date of November 1, 2017.
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