FERC staff warned Independence Pipeline Co. and ANR Pipelinelast week that their certificate authority to build themuch-maligned Independence project and associated SupplyLinkexpansion “could be in jeopardy” if they don’t submit by May 1,2001 the initial plans on how they intend to comply withCommission-imposed environmental requirements.

ANR and Independence had asked Commission staff to postpone thedeadline for filing “technical information” related to theirinitial implementation plans until Feb. 1, 2002. They said this wasnecessary because they have to put off starting work on theremaining environmental field surveys until spring 2001. If FERChad issued its final order on the two projects sooner, thecompanies indicated they wouldn’t have needed a delay.

“Your requests are inconsistent with your previous statementsabout the need to move quickly on this project,” wrote Daniel M.Adamson, director of the FERC Office of Energy Projects, in hisletter to the two pipeline companies. “ANR and Independence havebeen fully aware of the Commission’s requirements for certificationsince the issuance of the interim order” last December, he said.

Given that the final decision on the Midwest-to-East CoastIndependence pipeline and the associated SupplyLink expansion wasissued last July, “ANR and Independence have had ample opportunity tocontinue consultations with permitting agencies regarding theprojects. However, it appears that very little effort, if any, hasbeen devoted to completing the environmental requirements of theorder,” Adamson said (see Daily GPI, July13). “I am disturbed that there has been so little apparentprogress, particularly in light of the Commission’s finding of needfor this project.”

Consequently, “I do not believe it is appropriate to defer thefiling of your initial implementation plans until Feb. 1, 2002.Instead, I will require that you file these plans by no later thanMay 1, 2001,” he noted.

“Please be aware that if ANR and Independence cannot comply withthese terms then your certificate authority could be in jeopardy.”Adamson also ordered Independence and ANR, which sponsors bothIndependence and SupplyLink, to file monthly status reports ontheir environmental permitting and land acquisition activities “soI can further monitor your progress.”

In an Oct. 13 letter, staff criticized implementation plansfiled earlier by ANR and Independence as being preliminary innature and failing to disclose technical information that wasrequired by the FERC orders. It also said the plans failed toprovide the timetables and dates for completion of all requiredsurveys and reports; the mitigation training of onsite personnel;the start of construction; and the start and completion ofrestoration activities.

FERC staff directed Independence and ANR to file the informationin 20 days. The two pipeline companies submitted the project datesand timetables, but they requested an extension until February 2002for filing the technical information.

By then, “Independence and ANR should have completed survey workand should have received required state and local agency input.Thus, Independence and ANR should be able, at that time, to file afinal implementation plan which will include all of the technicalinformation required,” the companies told FERC, adding that thiswould allow for construction to begin May 1, 2002.

Independence and ANR have said they expect their projects to becompleted and in service by November 2002. The Commission hasallotted three years for Independence to be built and in operation,and two years for SupplyLink.

When completed SupplyLink, a 73-mile looping of ANR’s existingsystem, and the 400-mile, 36-inch Independence line would be ableto ship to East Coast markets about 1 Bcf/d of natural gas thatwill flow into the Midwest over Alliance Pipeline and NorthernBorder Pipeline’s already-completed extension/expansion. BesidesANR, the other Independence sponsors are Transcontinental Gas PipeLine and National Fuel Gas Co.

©Copyright 2000 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.