On August 2, 2019, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) orders approving the construction and operation of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company’s Atlantic Sunrise Project. The Atlantic Sunrise Project is an approximately 196.5 mile 1.7 Bcf/d pipeline spanning from northern Pennsylvania, across the Carolinas and into Alabama. The pipeline was originally approved by FERC in February of 2017 and went into service in the fall of 2018. Opponents of the project sought review of FERC’s orders permitting the pipeline’s expansion and operation.
Specifically, opponents asserted that the Commission: i) improperly conducted its environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”); ii) failed to substantiate market need for the Project as required by the Natural Gas Act; and iii) denied them due process by authorizing construction to commence before the issuance of the Certificate Order could be judicially reviewed.
The D.C. Circuit found that FERC’s NEPA analysis was acceptable, and that FERC appropriately considered individual utility and the reasonableness of the pipeline route; substantiated the requisite market need; and that due process was not denied. The court also found that opponents made no claim that they were deprived of a meaningful opportunity to be heard as part of the FERC certificate process.
Ultimately, the Court denied the petitions for review and deferred to the Commission’s decision to approve the Atlantic Sunrise Project expansion and operation.
On August 29, 2018, the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) summary judgment and permanently enjoining the County Commission of Fayette County, West Virginia, from using a zoning ordinance to bar construction of the Stallworth Compressor Station (CSS). The CSS is a vital part of the 303.5-mile long, 42-inch diameter, MVP pipeline project stretching from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to Pittsylvania County, Virginia. See Mountain Valley Pipeline v. Matthew D. Wender, et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-04377, Mem. Op. and Order (S.D. W. Va. August 29, 2018).
Please read more about this decision in this Alert.
FuelFix.com reports that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania recently ruled that the Constitution Pipeline can be built across seven northeastern Pennsylvania properties despite the fact that the respective landowners had not agreed to the construction. The Constitution Pipeline is a 124-mile pipeline project designed to transport Marcellus Shale gas from Pennsylvania to New York and New England. It would connect with the existing Tennessee and Iroquois pipelines in New York. Its partner companies, including Williams Partners LP and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., sought access to 130 properties in Pennsylvania and filed condemnation proceedings regarding 20. Agreements were reached with 13 of the 20 landowners. Judge Malachy Mannion ruled that the pipeline has the necessary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and that it serves the public interest by increasing gas pipeline capacity. Judge Mannion also noted that the landowners stood to gain adequate compensation from the pipeline’s owners. A spokesman for Williams stated that the group hopes to begin construction by June 1st after obtaining additional permits and posting the necessary bond.
StateImpact reported that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved an addition to the interstate Transco pipeline that will transport Marcellus shale gas to New Jersey, where there is a high demand. The approval comes after several other pipeline expansions to New York and New England were recently approved. The Leidy Southeast line will total approximately 30 miles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is scheduled to be completed by late 2015.
StateImpact, a reporting collaboration supported by NPR, that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a proposed interstate pipeline that would transport Marcellus Shale natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York and New England markets. The 30-inch pipeline would cover 124 miles, connecting gas production in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania to existing transmission lines in New York. The pipeline will be operated by subsidiaries of Williams Partners, Cabot Oil and Gas, Piedmont Natural Gas, and WGL Holdings. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation must still issue final permits.
The Economic Times and other news sources are reporting that the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a permit for Dominion Resources to operate the first natural gas liquefaction plant on the east coast. Dominion’s Cove Point plant on the Chesapeake Bay will be used to export more than 5 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas each year. The plant will also be the first export terminal connected to the Marcellus Shale by pipeline. It has been reported that Dominion already has agreements with energy companies in India and Japan to ship the natural gas overseas. The project is likely to be completed by June of 2017.
Dominion has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve two transmission line projects that would increase Dominion’s ability to transport natural gas supplies to market from various regions. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the two projects are designed to anticipate and meet the growing natural gas needs of customers while ensuring safe, reliable, and affordable means of transporting natural gas from the Appalachian Basin to market. The first project, the “New Market” project, would improve National Grid’s access to natural gas supplies to meet the growing need of its subsidiaries, Niagara Mohawk and Brooklyn Union, for additional natural gas supplies. The second project, the Clarington Project, would expand Dominion’s transport capabilities from the growing Utica and Marcellus Shale states of Ohio and West Virginia to markets outside the Appalachian Basin. Each of the projects, if approved by FERC, would begin construction in late summer/early fall 2015 and would be placed into service in fall of 2016.
John Wellinghoff officially resigned his post as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sunday, November 24, 2013. Wellinghoff, the longest serving FERC Chairman in history, will be joining the law firm of Stoel Rives LLP. The now-departed FERC Chairman announced his intention to leave the agency in May 2013, but agreed to stay on until his replacement could be named and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. President Obama’s first choice to fill the position, former Colorado energy regulator Ron Binz, recently withdrew from consideration in the face of opposition. The White House has indicated that another current FERC Commissioner, Cheryl LaFleur, will serve as acting Chairman until a permanent replacement is confirmed.
Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (“Transco”) recently filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) for authorization to construct and operate the Leidy Southeast Project. According to the application, the Leidy Southeast Project would involve the installation of approximately 30 miles of new 42-inch pipeline and associated facilities in Northeastern Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. The new pipelines, if approved by FERC, would be used to transport gas produced in North Central Pennsylvania. Transco asked FERC to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the Project by August 1, 2014, so that the company could meet its targeted in-service date of December 1, 2015. The Times Tribune provides additional coverage here.
President Obama recently announced his nomination of Ron Binz to serve as the next Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Binz served as the Chairman of the Colorado Public Utility Commission from 2007 to 2011 and has spent the past several years working as principal at Public Policy Consulting, specializing in public utilities issues, and as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University, which is headed by former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. The Washington Post reports that Binz has a track record as a “strong proponent of renewable energy” and deep understanding of the nation’s electricity distribution system. The U.S. Senate must approve Binz’s appointment to replace the current FERC Chairman, John Wellinghoff, who announced his intent to resign from the position in late May 2013.
On June 13, 2013, Constitution Pipeline Company, LLC filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to construct a 122-mile interstate transmission line from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to Schoharie County, New York. The line, if approved, would transport approximately 650,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas, enough to supply 3 million homes. Reuters reports that the project is expected to cost $683M.
On Friday, May 10, 2013, Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC (Columbia Gas) submitted applications to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the issuance of certificates of public convenience and necessity for a pair of natural gas pipeline projects in the Appalachian basin. The first project, the Smithfield III Expansion, would include the construction of a new compressor station in Washington County, Pennsylvania, as well as the installation of additional compressor units, new station piping, control systems, and other facilities at existing compressor stations and other sites in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The second project, the Line 1570, would involve replacing and expanding certain existing pipeline facilities in Greene County and Washington County, Pennsylvania, as well as replacing and expanding certain facilities at an existing compressor station in Greene County, Pennsylvania. According to Columbia Gas, these two projects will allow the company to expand its gas service to customers in markets in the southwest.
According to StateImpact and the Pike County Courier, on March 22, 2013, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit to Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (TGPC) for wetland, stream, and river crossings associated with its Northeast Upgrade Project. Despite opposition from environmental groups and local citizens, regulators at the Army Corps’ Philadelphia District determined that the proposed work is not contrary to the public interest.
The Project aims to increase the capacity on TGPC’s Line 300 by constructing 40 miles of new pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and modifying four compressor stations. As indicated in a March 2011 Economic Report by Rutgers University, the Project will create 1,100 job years, $37.8M in income for local labor, and $51.4M in GDP in Pennsylvania, as well as $12.2M in federal tax revenues, $1.9M in state tax revenues, and $2.1M in local tax revenues. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the Project in May 2012. FERC is the lead federal agency for the Project.
On March 8, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order authorizing Dominion Transmission, Inc.’s requests to build two new pipeline projects in New York and Pennsylvania. The two projects are the Tioga Area Expansion Project, which will include 15 miles of new 24-inch diameter pipeline in Tioga, Greene, Potter, and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania, as well as Steuben County, New York, and the Sabinsville to Morrisville Project, which will include 3.56-miles of new 24-inch diameter pipeline and additional facilities in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. FERC’s authorization is conditioned upon Dominion placing the projects into service within two years.
On January 30, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a notice in the Federal Register of the availability of a report prepared by the Office of Energy Projects, “Recommended Parameters for Solid Flame Models for Land Based Liquefied Natural Gas Spills.” In the report, FERC evaluates the suitability of using LNGFIRE3 in siting onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, as is currently required under the minimum federal safety standards administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). After comparing with recommendations and parameters from a May 2012 report prepared by Sandia National Laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy, “Liquefied Natural Gas Safety Research Report to Congress,” FERC concludes that LNGFIRE3 is suitable for such use. In a prior report , FERC evaluated the suitability of using another model, DEGADIS, to determine the vapor-gas-dispersion exclusion zones for onshore LNG facilities under PHMSA’s siting requirements.