A New Jersey group of pipeline opponents has petitioned a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, to review FERC orders with respect to Spectra Energy’s New Jersey-New York Expansion, which has long been under attack by officials in the state.

The non-profit group, known as NO Gas Pipeline, has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order issued in May approving the New Jersey-New York Expansion, and an October order denying rehearing and a request for a stay of the project (see Daily GPI, May 23; Oct. 22).

“As relevant to NO Gas Pipeline’s interests, a six-and-a-half mile segment of the pipeline will bisect Jersey City along with a metering and regulation station that will be sited in the city’s downtown, endangering the health and security of millions of residents,” the group told the court.

The 20-mile expansion of Spectra’s Texas Eastern Transmission and Algonquin Gas Transmission interstate pipeline systems, which is already under construction, will provide 800 MMcf/d of “critically needed” natural gas supplies to “high-demand markets” in northern New Jersey and New York City, said Spectra. The project is targeted to be in service in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The embattled project has been fending off attacks from New Jersey and environmental officials for years. It has been opposed by top officials in the state — Gov. Chris Christie, Rep. William Pascrell (D-NJ) and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy (see Daily GPI, Jan. 24, 2011; Dec. 29, 2010) — but it has received solid support in New York (see Daily GPI, Sept. 1, 2011).

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