The proposed Buccaneer Pipeline, which is seeking approval as anoptional-certificate project, should be held to the same highstandards as are other major pipeline projects under FERC’s newpolicy statement, says Florida Gas Transmission (FGT).

FERC exempted optional-certificate (OC) pipelines, such asBuccaneer, from the requirements of the policy statement onpipeline construction because sponsors bear the economic risks fortheir projects. But FGT doesn’t believe Buccaneer, a potentialcompetitor in a market long dominated by FGT, should be so easilyexcused.

“Projects submitted for approval under the Commission’s OCprocedures raise the same public policy concerns that theCommission has identified for projects under traditional Section 7cprocedures. These concerns include ‘the possibility ofoverbuilding, the avoidance of unnecessary disruption of theenvironment, and the unneeded exercise of eminent domain,'” FGTsaid in a filing at FERC [CP00-16].

“The compelling reasons supporting the standards set forth inthe statement of policy do not disappear simply because anapplicant uses different application procedures or accepts economicrisk. The public interest concerns arise regardless of the type ofapplication submitted,” FGT told the Commission.

“Unnecessary overbuilding is unnecessary overbuilding,regardless of the type of procedures followed,” the pipeline said.

FGT further criticized Buccaneer for failing to back up itsproject with firm service agreements, and for not identifying a”specific market need” for the proposed pipeline.

The proposed 533-mile, 36-inch Buccaneer line would begin inMobile County, AL, and would cross the Gulf of Mexico, comingashore on the west coast of Florida just north of Tampa. There itplans to branch out eastward to serve the expanding gas-firedgeneration market in the Sunshine State.

Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. and Mobil OilExploration and Producing Southeast (MOEPSI) said that althoughthey favored any project that would provide additional access toFlorida markets for their Mobile Bay gas production, they wereconcerned Buccaneer could foreclose Mobil’s ability to use acorridor to construct a pipeline to transport sour gas productionto its Mary Ann sweetening facility. Buccaneer’s proposed routewould also cross a pipeline corridor known as Portersville Bay,which MOEPSI said it would need for its pipeline. Mobil owns theland on which the corridors are located.

“Representatives of MOEPSI and Buccaneer have met in recentweeks to discuss ways in which to mitigate the potentially seriousconsequences of Buccaneer’s use of MOEPSI’s already-busy corridor”and several issues still must be resolved,” the Mobil companiestold FERC.

Susan Parker

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press, Inc. All rightsreserved. The preceding news report may not be republished orredistributed in whole or in part without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.