Washington Gas Light Co. last week called on FERC to schedule aformal hearing to explore concerns of distribution customers thatthe liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be imported by Williams’ CovePoint LNG facility will meet the standards for pipeline-qualitygas.

In a protest filed last Monday, the Washington D.C.-baseddistributor said a hearing was needed to satisfy future customersof Cove Point that the type and character of the LNG to be importedat the Lusby, MD, facility, if re-opened, will fall within thestandard parameters of traditional transmission quality gas.

Williams last month asked the Commission for the go-ahead toreactivate the mothballed Cove Point LNG terminal and importservices by April 1, 2002, and expand its LNG storage capacity to7.8 Bcf (See NGI, Feb. 5, 2001).

A review by FERC of the Cove Point LNG plant should address boththe financial and operational aspects associated with theintroduction of a non-traditional fuel source into the interstatepipeline system, Washington Gas said.

The distributor noted it had no proof that the LNG at Cove Pointwould be anything other than pipeline-quality gas. “We justbasically want to be assured that the natural gas that isactivated…meets our standards,” said spokeswoman Joan M.Hairston.

Similar fears were raised in the mid to late 1970s, when theCove Point facilities were built, she said. At the time, the energyindustry had two years to address the issues, Hairston recalled,but it has a much shorter timeframe (six months) to deal with themnow. A key concern is that Washington Gas may have to modify itsdistribution equipment to accommodate a different pressure level inCove Point’s LNG pipeline, Hairston told NGI.

Susan Parker

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