Seizing upon a deadline ultimatum recently issued by FERC forthe proposed Independence Pipeline and associated SupplyLinkexpansion, Pennsylvania Rep. Frank LaGrotta has called on theCommission to revoke the certificate for the construction of thecontroversial, multi-state project.

An ardent foe of the project, LaGrotta said his request wasbased on the “clear and inescapable inability” of the sponsors tomeet the deadline for environmental clearances and on what hecalled a flawed final environmental impact statement (FEIS) by FERCstaff.

In a letter to FERC on Nov. 28, the state lawmaker claimed itwas “inconceivable that Independence could possibly meet FERC’s May1, 2001 deadline by which you have mandated that the environmentalclearances be obtained” for the project.

LaGrotta’s bid to revoke the project came on the heels of theCommission staff’s move to reject a request by IndependencePipeline Co. and ANR Pipeline to extend the deadline for filingtheir initial plans on how they intend to comply with theFERC-imposed environmental requirements. It further warned sponsorsthat Independence and SupplyLink “could be in jeopardy” if the datawas filed late (see Daily GPI, Nov. 27).

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)already has issued a “pre-denial” of Independence’ request for a401 environmental clearance, according to LaGrotta. This ruling wasbased Independence’s failure to provide “written concurrence fromthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the project will notadversely impact federally listed, proposed or candidate species.”

Fish and Wildlife can’t issue such a finding until theIndependence sponsors conduct a study required under the EndangeredSpecies Act, according to LaGrotta. However, the report has notbeen conducted and as a result of a delay by the sponsors, “thestudy cannot even be begun until May 15, 2001, pushing back anyforeseeable date by which the companies could receive their 401clearance [from the state] to late fall.”

In a Dec. 18 letter to FERC, LaGrotta further underscored whathe believes is an “inherent flaw” in the November 1999 FEIS on thepipelines. The FEIS cited a July 1999 letter in which thePennsylvania Bureau of State Parks told FERC that it would permitthe pipeline to cross two state parks. But it didn’t include aletter from the state DEP, which denied new rights-of-way forIndependence within these parks based on state legislation, hesaid.

Given the Commission staff decided not to consider alternativeroutes to Independence based on this “misunderstanding,” LaGrottabelieves “FERC’s determination [in the FEIS] that Independence isno more environmentally disruptive than alternative transmissionsystems could be inherently flawed as well.”

FERC issued the certificate on the Independence and SupplyLinkprojects in July. If ever completed, SupplyLink, a 73-mile loopingof ANR’s existing system, and the 400-mile, 36-inch Independenceline would ship to East Coast markets about 1 Bcf/d of natural gasthat currently is flowing into the Midwest over Alliance Pipelineand Northern Border Pipeline’s extension/expansion.

©Copyright 2000 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.