FERC Chairman Pat Wood last week urged the U.S. Commerce Department to override the state of Connecticut’s objections to the proposed Islander East Pipeline. The project, which eventually would carry up to 400 MMcf/d of gas under Long Island Sound to markets on Long Island from pipelines in Connecticut, has been blocked by the state using the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA).

Connecticut mainly objected to the offshore portion of the project based on potential effects on the state’s natural resources or land and water uses in Connecticut’s coastal zone in Long Island Sound. As a result, the state blocked the project, using its rights under the CZMA. Islander East has appealed the state’s decision to the Commerce Department, which is responsible for actions under the act.

In a letter to the Commerce Department’s Scott B. Gudes, deputy under secretary for oceans and atmosphere, Wood said the state’s objections should be overruled because FERC issued a certificate last September for the project after examining all the alternatives along the 50 mile pipeline route from New Haven, CT, across Long Island Sound to Suffolk County (Long Island).

“The Commission conducted an exhaustive review of the environmental impacts of the project,” he noted. “This included an analysis that focused in particular on the impact…on Long Island Sound… We concluded after imposing numerous environmental conditions to the certificate authorization that the Islander East Project would have acceptable environmental impacts.”

Secondly, he said, the project is necessary to meet growing demand in eastern Long Island and would provide the area with an additional source of supply. Currently Suffolk County and eastern Long Island are served by only one pipeline, and a disruption on that system could “result in a substantial curtailment in natural gas service,” which in turn could result in power blackouts. “As such, the Islander East Project will provide much needed security and reliability that cannot be provided by any of the system alternatives…,” Wood said.

Islander East, which is sponsored by Duke Energy Gas Transmission and KeySpan Energy, would deliver 285,000 Dth/d of gas initially and ultimately would deliver 400,000 Dth/d. Additionally, Algonquin Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, would loop about 13.7 miles of existing pipeline in Connecticut and add a new compressor station in Cheshire, CT. Approximately 90% of the Islander East pipeline land route will be located along existing corridors.

“[T]here is no reasonable alternative available which would permit the Islander East Project to be constructed consistent with the enforceable policies of Connecticut’s Coastal Management Plan that will fulfill the Commission’s statutory mandates under the Natural Gas Act,” Wood said.

He also stressed the urgency of regulatory approval, noting that without timely review, investments in needed infrastructure cannot be made.

Wood once again urged the Commerce Department to find the project consistent with the CZMA. A hearing on the project is scheduled to begin on Nov. 5 in the Omni New Haven Hotel in New Haven, CT. Public comments on the appeal are due by Nov. 20. For more information visit https://www.ogc.doc.gov/czma.htm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a division of the Commerce Department, said in a Federal Register notice on Friday that it has extended the deadline until Dec. 15 for making a decision on Millennium Pipeline’s appeal of a similar CZMA ruling by the state of New York. Millennium’s project would bring gas to New York City and other markets in the Northeast through a 420 mile pipeline stretching from Lake Erie to just outside New York City (see NGI, Aug. 4). The state has objected to the project’s impact on the sensitive Haverstraw Bay area of the Hudson River. FERC also already has granted Millennium of pipeline certificate.

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