FERC staff has given a preliminary environmental nod to Iroquois Gas Transmission’s $174 million Eastchester Expansion Project to serve the New York market.

The “proposed project, with the mitigation measures recommended…, would have limited adverse environmental impact,” the Commission staff said in its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on the project. The 33-mile, 24-inch pipeline expansion, which has a projected in-service date of November 2002, is designed to deliver 230,000 Dth/d mainly to power generators in New York City. The project would cross the Long Island Sound, connecting Iroquois’ existing system in Suffolk County (Long Island) with Consolidated Edison of New York’s system in the Bronx.

While the project raised “few environmental issues,” the Commission staff acknowledged that there was “significant opposition” by residents and elected officials in the Bronx to the project route selected by Iroquois. The DEIS identified and evaluated a route modification — the so-called Hunts Point Shallow Water route variation — that it believes would “minimize construction-related impacts” in the Bronx area. It conceded, however, the route variation would “increase the impacts to marine resources,” although it said they would likely be “moderate to minor and…short-term.”

Iroquois has negotiated 10-year agreements for the proposed capacity with five shippers: Virginia Power Energy Marketing (20,000 Dth/d); Mirant New York Management (60,000 Dth/d); KeySpan Ravenswood (60,000 Dth/d); Consolidated Edison Energy (30,000 Dth); and Orion Power Holdings (60,000 Dth).ConEd, KeySpan and Orion will use their capacity to serve power generation load.

In a preliminary determination issued in May, FERC rejected Iroquois’ request for rolled-in rate treatment for the Eastchester expansion, saying that the project’s cost actually would exceed its revenues, requiring existing firm shippers to subsidize a portion of the project. Iroquois had said the project would provide $2.8 million in annual net financial benefits, but FERC found that it actually would cost existing shippers $2.9 million. As a result, the Commission left the rates to be settled in a future proceeding.

Iroquois Gas Transmission System is a partnership of 10 U.S. and Canadian energy firms, and is owner of a 375-mile interstate pipeline extending from the U.S.-Canadian border at Waddington, NY, through western Connecticut to Long Island.

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.