NW Natural submitted an application Friday to the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) for a 60-mile, 24-inch pipeline to link the company’s underground natural gas storage fields near Mist, OR to a Williams mainline near Molalla.

Putting the South Mist Pipeline Extension into service, plus improvements to the gas storage and transmission system could save NW Natural customers as much as $250 million over the next 30 years, said Richard G. Reiten, NW Natural’s chairman. The company earlier filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to develop the storage facility.

“This project is a key part of our plan to meet the natural gas needs of consumers, and it is an important piece of the region’s efforts to address the current energy crisis.” Reiten said. NW Natural’s application to EFSC comes after more than a year of detailed studies of property, environmental, agricultural, geological and other technical issues, and following hundreds of interviews with property owners in the proposed transmission corridor, according to Charlie Stinson, general manager of engineering and storage.

NEFSC will review the application for completeness and conduct a year long public review process in which residents may provide input about the project.

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