FERC on Friday issued final environmental clearance for EnCana Corp.’s proposed Entrega Gas Pipeline to transport Rocky Mountain supplies from the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado to the Cheyenne gas trading hub in the northeastern part of the state.

The project with additional mitigation would have limited adverse environmental impacts because, among other things, 94% of the proposed pipeline would be located within 300 feet of existing pipeline, utility and road right of ways; would be consistent with or in conformance with the Bureau of Land Management’s resource management plans; and would implement a number of plans to protect natural resources and avoid or limit environmental impact, staff said in its final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on the Entrega project [CP004-413].

Entrega Pipeline received a draft EIS from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in late February. With the environmental approvals in hand, FERC could give the green light to the project at its next regular meeting in late July.

The proposed 328-mile Entrega pipeline would transport 1.5 Bcf/d of gas from the Piceance Basin through the Wamsutter Basin and Hub in Sweetwater County, WY, to the Cheyenne gas trading hub in Weld County, CO, where several eastbound pipelines converge. Entrega plans to construct the pipeline in two phases, with 136 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline expected to be completed by the end of this year, and 191 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline to be in service in late 2006.

The estimated $650 million project also will include the construction of three new compressor stations (the Meeker Hub and Bighole Compressor Stations in Colorado, and the Wamsutter Compressor Station in Wyoming); and seven meters at interconnections with other pipeline systems (three associated with the new compressor stations, and four at the new Cheyenne Hub Metering Station in Wyoming).

The proposed pipeline will interconnect with the Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG) and Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd. transmission systems at Wamsutter, WY, carrying supplies to markets east and west of Wamsutter; and it will connect with CIG, Cheyenne Plains Gas Pipeline, Trailblazer Pipeline and Public Service Co. of Colorado at the Cheyenne Hub, delivering gas to markets in the Midwest and Central U.S. and the Eastern Slope south of the Cheyenne Hub.

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