Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) has asked FERC to schedule aconference to take a “hard look” at “viable alternatives” – notablythose using turned-back capacity – to the controversialIndependence-MarketLink pipeline projects and perhaps the proposedMillennium Pipeline.

A conference is necessary to address the potential for”unnecessary duplication” of existing capacity posed by theproposed Northeast-bound facilities, “further define” theanticipated Northeast gas demand, address shortfalls in the draftenvironmental impact statements (DEIS) on the projects, and enablesponsors to respond in detail to staff data requests about theirprojects, Tetco said in its request [CP97-515].

“A face-to-face meeting will lead to resolution of matterssooner for the project sponsors, project shippers and alternativeprojects,” it told FERC. The meeting could take the form of eithera technical conference, settlement conference, mediation or otheralternative dispute resolution. And while its focus would be on therelated Independence-MarketLink projects, Tetco said the proposedconference also “may have relevance” for the proposed Millenniumsystem, whose key sponsor is Columbia Gas Transmission. Sponsors ofIndependence are ANR Pipeline, National Fuel Gas Supply andWilliams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, while MarketLink issolely a Transco project.

One proposed alternative that Tetco wants the Commission toseriously weigh is its own. It contends it has enough existing andprojected turned-back capacity on its system that, when combinedwith “certain additional construction,” would satisfy the customerneeds of the Independence line and a portion of MarketLink.Specifically, Tetco said it could satisfy market demand of 663,000Dth/d from an interconnection with ANR Pipeline at Muncie, IN, toLinden, NJ – a demand level that is “commensurate” with theexisting subscriptions for MarketLink (663,000 Dth/d) and 34,000Dth/d more than the current subscribed level for Independence(629,000 Dth/d).

Tetco outlined its alternative for the Commission in June,pointing out that it previously was overlooked by FERC staff in itsDEIS on Independence. Tetco was evaluated as a possible substitutefor the MarketLink project in the DEIS, the pipeline said, but theavailability of its turned-back capacity was not factored into theequation. The Commission staff subsequently asked Tetco to provideit with “supplemental comments” on its alternative, which it hasdone.

This, as well as other incidents “raise[d] questions…about theadequacy of the DEIS in its evaluation of alternatives,” andwhether staff’s analysis conformed to the standards of the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act (NEPA), Tetco said. “Texas Eastern has astake in this analysis in that its alternative – use of turned-backcapacity – will protect Texas Eastern and its customers from thecost-shifting effects of duplicative new capacity.” Others, such asTennessee, CNG Transmission Corp. and Consolidated Edison, alsohave challenged the adequacy of FERC staff’s assessment ofalternatives to Independence in the DEIS.

With respect to Millennium, National Fuel and ANR Pipeline -sponsors of Independence – have suggested an alternative thatcalls for the proposed 417-mile Columbia project to be folded intoan expanded Independence and SupplyLink (a looping, compressionproject). Likewise, Tennessee Gas Pipeline has proposed twoalternatives for Millennium – one for 700 MDth/d and another for300 MDth/d.

Tetco said it believes a conference is warranted to provide a”reasonable review of and ‘hard look’ at viable alternatives,including partial alternatives.”

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