FERC has revised the schedule for completion of the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for EQM Midstream Partners LP’s Southgate Project, pushing the due date for the document back to Feb. 14, 2020.

The FEIS had been scheduled to be released Dec. 19, but on Oct. 23 Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) filed additional information “that included changes to the route and revised data for resource impacts,” according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [CP19-14]. “Because the supplemental information needs further review and required an additional notice to the landowners affected by the route changes…commission staff has revised the schedule for issuance of the final EIS.

The Southgate Project, which would extend MVP’s reach into North Carolina, was issued a draft EIS in July.

EQM hopes to have the project in service by 4Q2020 subject to various regulatory approvals and completion of the MVP project itself, which has repeatedly been delayed over regulatory and legal issues. MVP project sponsors are targeting a new in-service date of late 2020 and the pipeline is now expected to cost up to $5.5 billion. MVP would move 2 Bcf/d of Appalachian natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia and connect with the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line to tap markets in the Southeast.

The 70-mile Southgate pipeline would receive gas from MVP in Virginia and transport it to new delivery points in Rockingham and Alamance counties, NC. The project is expected to cost $450-500 million and is backed by a 300 MMcf/d commitment from utility PSNC Energy, which is now Dominion Energy, following a merger with parent Scana Corp. earlier this year.

EQM said Southgate has been designed with an expansion capacity of up to 900 MMcf/d.

The project proposes constructing about 31 miles of 24-inch diameter pipe from the MVP mainline in Pittsylvania County, VA, to the Dan River Interconnect with Dominion in Rockingham County; about 42 miles of 16-inch diameter pipeline from the Dan River Interconnect to an interconnect with Dominion facilities at Haw River in Alamance County; a 28,915 hp compressor station in Pittsylvania County; and an interconnect with East Tennessee Natural Gas Transmission LLC, along with other facilities and equipment.