FERC issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC (TGP) on Thursday, authorizing it to construct and operate the Orion Project, a looping project on its 300 Line designed to serve increasing demand in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

In its order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [CP16-4] said TGP must complete construction of the project, a 135,000 Dth/d expansion, within two years and satisfy various environmental conditions. The Commission also approved TGP’s proposed incremental resource reservation rate for firm transportation service under Rate Schedule FT-A.

The Orion Project includes construction of a 36-inch, 8.23-mile pipeline loop along the 300 Line in Wayne and Pike counties, PA (Loop 322); construction of a 36-inch diameter, 4.68-mile loop along the 300 Line in Pike County (Loop 323); and installation of appurtenant and auxiliary facilities. The projected project cost is $143 million.

South Jersey Resources Group LLC, South Jersey Gas Co., and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. have signed up for all of the project’s capacity, according to the Kinder Morgan Inc. pipeline’s filing at FERC.

TGP first filed an application for the project in October 2015. Last month, the company asked FERC to approve the project by the end of January so that it could begin construction and meet a planned in-service date of June 1, 2018.

In its order, FERC denied a motion to consolidate the proceedings over the Orion Project with TGP’s Susquehanna West [CP15-148] and Triad Expansion projects. The Commission also denied requests by environmental groups for an evidentiary hearing.