Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) extended its lead in the crowdedrace to serve the expanding gas-fired power generation market inFlorida this week when FERC staff issued draft environmentalapproval for its Phase IV mainline expansion.

FGT’s proposed expansion would have “limited adverseenvironmental impacts,” provided certain mitigation measures areadopted, according to staff’s draft environmental impact statement(DEIS). The pipeline received the favorable ruling because about84% of the proposed expansion will be located within or adjacent toexisting rights-of-way, and will overlap FGT’s existing systemwherever possible.

The DEIS, combined with the preliminary determination that theexpansion received in July, gives FGT a significant lead over thethree competing projects-Duke Energy’s Sawgrass Energy TransmissionSystem, Williams-Transco’s Buccaneer Pipeline and Coastal’sGulfstream project-that are vying for a potential 1.5 Bcf/d growthin gas demand for power generation in the Sunshine State.

The FGT project calls for the construction of about 140 miles ofpipeline (laterals and looping) facilities in Mississippi andFlorida, and would expand the pipeline’s existing system by 196,405MMBtu/d. The project will provide major supplies of gas tosouthwestern Florida for the first time.

The start-up of the $262 million Phase IV expansion, which has aproposed in-service date of May 2001, is being scheduled tocoincide with the operation of Florida Power and Light’s (FP&L)repowered gas-fired generation facility in Ft. Meyers, FL. Theplanned facility-a 1,500 MW combined-cycle power plant-will havethree times the generating capability of the utility’s two existingoil-fired steam generators.

The Ft. Meyers facility will represent about 93% of the gasdemand to be served by FGT’s expanded mainline.

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