FERC has approved the application for Williams Partners LP’s Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co. LLC’s (Transco) Dalton Expansion.

The project is fully contracted and is designed to deliver natural gas to an existing electric generating facility in northern Georgia operated by Oglethorpe Power Corp., local distribution company Atlanta Gas Light, as well as the city of Cartersville. Transco recently asked the Commission to approve the project by July 13 (see Daily GPI, July 8).

Dalton will consist of 115 miles of new steel pipe ranging from 16 to 30 inches in diameter extending from the existing Transco pipeline in Coweta County, GA, to new delivery points in Paulding and Murray counties, GA. The pipeline is being designed to transport 448,000 Dth/d.

As part of the project, Williams is proposing to construct a compressor facility in Carroll County, GA, as well as three metering facilities and other related pipe and valve modifications to existing facilities. Construction is planned to begin in the third quarter with completion targeted for 2017 [CP15-117] (see Daily GPI, July 8).

Although the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an environmental assessment for the project on March 31, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service disagreed with the move and urged the agency to reconsider (see Shale Daily, April 7). An open season was completed in April 2014, with shippers signing up for 100% of the project’s 448,000 Dth/d of firm capacity (see Shale Daily, April 21, 2014).

Transco and AGL Resources’ Dogwood Enterprise Holdings Inc. each will hold a 50% undivided joint ownership interest in the new lateral pipeline in Georgia. Under the proposal, Dogwood Enterprises will lease its ownership interest in the lateral to Transco. Transco’s net investment in the project is expected to be about $275 million. The project was filed at the Commission in March 2015 (see Daily GPI, March 20, 2015).