FERC on Friday granted Trans-Pecos Pipeline LLC’s request to begin construction of the Presidio Border Crossing Project, which would allow transport of natural gas from Texas to Mexico via the planned Trans-Pecos Pipeline.

In May the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a presidential permit for the border-crossing facilities near the city of Presidio in Presidio County, TX, and the Mexican city of Manuel Ojinaga in the state of Chihuahua [CP15-500] (see Daily GPI, May 9). Trans-Pecos is a project of Energy Transfer Partners LP and Mexico-based Carso to export up to 1.3 Bcf/d of U.S. natural gas at the International Boundary between the United States and Mexico.

Environmentalists — led by the Sierra Club with support from landowners and residents in Texas along the pipeline route — have challenged the non-jurisdictional status of the Trans-Pecos pipeline. While the border crossing is governed by FERC, the pipeline is considered an intrastate and not subject to FERC jurisdiction (see Daily GPI, June 7).

The pipeline has garnered opposition from landowners and environmentalists concerned about the Big Bend National Park (see Daily GPI, May 21, 2015). Parties filing comments in the border crossing proceeding focused mostly on the larger pipeline project.