FERC Thursday approved Inergy subsidiary Central New York Oil and Gas Co.’s (CNYOG) request to begin partial service on its MARC-I Hub Line project in northeastern Pennsylvania on or before Nov. 14, giving northern markets greater access to Marcellus Shale gas. It said it plans to soon seek authorization to place the entire project into operation by Dec. 1.

CNYOG’s request for partial service, which was filed in late October, excluded the operation of its M1-S compressor Station and related facilities at the southern terminus of the MARC-I Hub pipeline because construction of these facilities is not complete, according to the order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) [CP10-480].

“At this time, bidirectional, firm transportation service will only be provided on an interim basis (interim FTS) at the points of receipt and delivery listed in your request,” FERC said. The points of receipt include Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Stagecoach Gas Storage-South Lateral; and points of receipt on the MARC I Hub Line between the M1-S Compressor Station and Tennessee. And the primary points of delivery are Tennessee and Stagecoach Storage-South Lateral, while the secondary delivery point is Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), CNYOG said.

The project, which FERC approved in November 2011, involved the construction of a 39-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline in three counties in northeastern Pennsylvania — Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming, which lie atop the Marcellus Shale play — as well as installation of additional compression facilities (see Shale Daily, Nov. 17, 2011). The project will have about 550,000 Dth/d of firm capacity.

The MARC I Hub gas transmission line connects to Tennessee’s Line 300 and Transco’s Leidy Line, as well as existing Stagecoach laterals that tie in with Millennium Pipeline. The project clears the way for gas produced in the northeastern Pennsylvania counties to be stored at CNYOG’s Stagecoach Gas Storage facility near Oswego, NY.

In June a federal appeals court denied a petition by three environmental groups seeking to halt construction of MARC-I Hub Line (see Shale Daily, June 2, 2011). The environmental groups — Coalition for Responsible Growth and Resource Conservation, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and the Sierra Club — had argued that FERC had incorrectly concluded that an environmental impact statement was not needed for the project and that its impact analysis was inadequate (see Shale Daily, Nov. 29, 2011).

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York countered that FERC “properly discharged its responsibilities under NEPA [the National Environmental Policy Act]” when it approved plans by CNYOG to build the project.