Williams’ Northwest Pipeline has filed a FERC application thatwould allow the company to expand upon a system that is alreadyclassified as one of the nation’s largest natural gas transporters.The filing would allow Northwest to build and operate a newnine-mile, 20-inch diameter lateral pipeline in Snohomish County,WA.

“Growth in the Pacific Northwest and the development ofgas-fired generation facilities is driving expansion of theNorthwest system,” said John Davis, manager of business developmentfor Williams’ Northwest Pipeline system.

The Everett Delta Lateral would deliver gas to a proposed FPLEnergy 248 MW gas-fired power plant near Everett, WA, about 45miles northwest of Seattle. The lateral would also deliver naturalgas to the distribution system of Puget Sound Energy. The lateralwill extend from a Northwest interconnect, north of the City ofLake Stevens to the proposed Everett Delta Power Plant located inthe Port of Everett.

“The Everett Delta Lateral will provide clean-burning naturalgas to generate electricity for residential, commercial andindustrial customers in the region,” added Davis.

Construction on the generating facility was originally scheduledto begin in late 1999 or early 2000, with commercial operationexpected to begin in 2001. A spokeswoman for FPL said the EverettDelta Lateral plant is still in the early development stages.

Capacity would be about 133,000 Dth/d, and the cost is pegged at$17.2 million. The pipeline project is scheduled to be in servicein August 2002.

Alex Steis

©Copyright 2000 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.