FERC has denied a request for a stay over Tennessee Gas Pipeline LLC’s (TGP) proposed Broad Run Expansion Project and will allow tree clearing for the project to continue.

In an order Tuesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied a request made by four individuals for a stay [CP15-77]. The intervenors filed the request last October, arguing that such a move was necessary because the project would, among other things, result in the “removal of 40 acres of mature forest,” and place a compressor station less than one mile from the Walden’s Puddle Rehabilitation and Education Center.

But FERC stated that it agreed with the favorable environmental assessment (EA) issued in March. The Commission said the EA had concluded that “because the areas of vegetation that would be permanently cleared are relatively small and within larger areas of similar vegetation, the impacts would be insignificant.”

FERC said the intervenors’ claim that the project would cause irreparable harm to Walden’s Puddle could not be supported. The Commission found that the facility “will not be affected by either construction or operational noise, which will attenuate to background levels within about 4,800 feet during construction and 2,000 feet during operation.”

The $406.4 million project would increase the capacity of TGP’s pipeline system by adding incremental compression and associated facilities, allowing long-term firm transportation service to project shipper Antero Resources Corp., according to the application filed at FERC in early 2015.

Antero is the sole shipper on the Broad Run Expansion, which would provide the producer with 200,000 Dth/d of transportation from the Broad Run lateral in West Virginia to delivery points along the Gulf Coast. Last October, Antero filed to intervene in TGP’s request for a rehearing of the Commission’s order authorizing construction and operation of the project, arguing in support of the lower fuel rates TGP has proposed.

In its original application, TGP requested FERC approval by Jan. 31, 2016, to meet a planned Nov. 1, 2017 in-service date.