A showdown that was brewing between FERC and New Jersey Gov.Christine Todd Whitman over the hotly contested MarketLinkexpansion was suddenly aborted on Friday when Chairman JamesHoecker pulled the project from the agenda for Tuesday’spre-Thanksgiving meeting.

In addition to MarketLink, Hoecker also withdrew thecontroversial Independence Pipeline and the associated SupplyLinkprojects from the schedule, saying that the orders could not becompleted in time.

Whitman had threatened to file a lawsuit if the Commissionapproved MarketLink. Last week, she directed the state’s attorneygeneral “to be prepared to take legal action in the event that the[Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] grants a permit” for theproject, an expansion of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s existingsystem in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Landowners and localofficials in both states have tried to block the MarketLink.

The governor threatened to sue after FERC first issued afavorable final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for bothMarketLink and Independence, which virtually guarantees theprojects’ approval, and then quickly set the projects for a vote.

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