AES Ocean Express LLC has won draft environmental clearance from FERC to build the U.S. leg of a 54-mile pipeline that would transport vaporized gas from its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Bahamas to southern Florida.

The project would have “limited adverse environmental impact” if the recommended mitigating measures are implemented, FERC staff said in its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on the AES Ocean pipeline [CP02-90-001].

The Commission issued a preliminary determination (PD) for the AES Ocean project in early April, and gave a boost as well to two other LNG projects, expressing the agency’s support for the gas industry’s move in the LNG direction (see Daily GPI, April 10). The AES Ocean line, 46 miles of which would be subsea facilities, would transport gas to Broward County, FL, from the proposed terminus of a 40-mile non-jurisdictional line at the Exclusive Economic Zone boundary between the United States and the Bahamas.

The $440 million pipeline would extend to interconnections with Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) and Florida Power and Light’s distribution system near its Fort Lauderdale power plant. The 24-inch proposed line, which is expected to be in service by the summer of 2004, would transport 842,000 Dth/d of gas, the majority of which has been contracted by affiliate AES LNG Marketing.

AES previously indicated that construction of the Bahamian import terminal and vaporization facilities in Ocean City, Bahamas, was expected to be completed during the first half of 2004, assuming it obtained financing and FERC acted quickly.

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