The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given draft environmental clearance to Iroquois Gas Transmission’s Eastern Long Island Extension, which would deliver natural gas from the Northeast to expanding markets in Long Island, NY, and New York City.

With use of “recommended mitigation measures,” construction and operation of the proposed Iroquois extension would have “limited adverse environmental impact,” the agency staff said in its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on the Eastern Long Island project.

In a recent final environmental review of the competing Islander East Pipeline, FERC staff said it had identified a system alternative, which was based on the Iroquois Eastern Long Island Extension, that was “environmentally preferable” to the proposed Connecticut-to-New York Islander East line. It stopped short of recommending one project over the other. Instead, staff said there were a “number of major considerations” that the Commission would have to weigh before it could take such action (See Daily GPI, Aug. 23).

The 29.1-mile, 20-inch diameter Iroquois extension — 17.1 miles across Long Island Sound and 12 miles onshore in Long Island — would deliver about 175,000 Dth/d of gas from parts of Connecticut to energy markets in Long Island and New York City. The project also calls for a new 20,000 horsepower compressor station, and piping/compressor modifications to accept gas from Algonquin Gas Transmission at the proposed Iroquois compressor station in Fairfield County, CT, according to the DEIS.

Iroquois is a partnership of 10 U.S. and Canadian energy firms and is owner of a 375-mile interstate pipeline that extends from the U.S.-Canadian border at Waddington, NY, through western Connecticut to Long Island.

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