The proposed Vector Pipeline L.P. project cleared the initialenvironmental hurdle at FERC last week, moving a step closer tobecoming a key transportation link between the Chicago hub and theDawn hub in Ontario, and major markets in the eastern UnitedStates.

Provided certain mitigation measures are adopted, the 1 Bcf/dChicago-to-Canada pipeline would have “limited adverseenvironmental impact,” according to Commission staff’s draftenvironmental impact statement (DEIS). Sponsors, IPL Energy ofCalgary and Detroit-based MCN Energy Group, claimed FERC’s quickaction put them in the lead among projects designed to pick upwestern Canadian gas brought into the Midwest by Northern Borderand the planned Alliance Pipeline. Plans for the pipeline werefiled in December 1997.

To mitigate the environmental impact Vector has leased 59 milesof 36-inch pipe from MCN subsidiary Michigan Consolidated Gas. Inaddition for much of its route the pipeline will be positionedwithin or along existing permanent easements held by IPL’s LakeheadPipe Line Partners L.P. It also follows other existing transmissionand utility rights-of-way for most of the remaining pipelinesegments. The project still needs a final impact statement andcertificate approval in the U.S. as well as authorization from theNational Energy Board for the Canadian portion. It has targetedlate 1999 for an in-service date.

Staff said it gave it gave Vector a passing mark in the initialenvironmental review because 95% of the proposed route would beadjacent to or within existing pipeline and power line rights ofways, and many of the proposed facilities would be located insparsely populated, rural areas.

The proposed pipeline would extend from Joliet, IL, to aconnection with Vector Canada at the international border near St.Clair, MI. The 330-mile system in the United States would includethree segments: 267 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline from Jolietto Oakland County, MI; the 59 mile Michigan Consolidated segmentfrom Oakland County to St. Clair County, MI; and 3.7 miles of42-inch pipeline terminating at the U.S.-Canadian border. VectorCanada plans to build an additional 15-mile line from the borderconnecting to the Dawn hub near Chatham, ON.

Vector says the proposed pipeline would provide U.S. shipperswith increased access to the Dawn hub and markets in Canada and theeastern U.S. In addition, it will deliver significant volumes ofgas to markets in Michigan.

The FERC staff evaluated three system alternatives to the Vectorproject – the ANR/Great Lakes System Alternative, the ANR/MichConSystem Alternative and the ANR/Consumers Energy System Alternative- but rejected them all because of their inability to handle theadditional 1 Bcf/d of capacity that Vector would provide. They alsodidn’t stand up to an environmental comparison to the Vectorproject.

Susan Parker

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