Iroquois Pipeline, having reached a critical point in development of its Eastern Long Island (ELI) expansion project, has asked FERC to defer further action on its application until at least January when Iroquois will provide a status update.

Iroquois has also made the same request of the Connecticut Siting Council regarding its review process. The ELI project received a preliminary determination in its favor from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in September, at the same time a rival Long Island project, Islander East, received full certification (see Daily GPI, Sept. 19). Iroquois sponsors have said there is not enough business for both projects, and if Islander East, sponsored by Duke Energy and KeySpan Energy, commences construction, Iroquois’ ELI project will likely not be built.

In its September decision, the Commission refused to consolidate the dockets of the two projects, a process that would have slowed Islander East and allowed the two projects to be compared. The Commission said it was not convinced there was not demand for both projects and it would let the market decide. FERC further acknowledged that while Iroquois’ ELI project was environmentally superior, it also considered the competitive advantage of having a second supplier in the Long Island market. Iroquois already has a line running under Long Island Sound from Connecticut and currently is expanding and extending that line into the Bronx.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), however, criticized FERC’s decision in allowing the Islander East project to go ahead when EPA and others had recommended FERC consider the ELI project as the preferred environmental alternative. Further, the Commission failed to wait the full 30 days for comments on Islander East’s final environmental impact statement (FEIS) before approving the certificate. The EPA, which expressed its reservations in the draft environmental impact statement, was preparing to follow up with similar comments on the FEIS, the agency said in a Sept. 30 letter to the Commission, with copies to various interested congressman.

Since the decision already has been made “the issues that remain unresolved, such as the analysis of alternatives, will need to be addressed in the Clean Water Act Section 404 process administered by the Corps of Engineers. That process will determine whether the ELI alternative, the Islanders East alternative, or others are permittable under the Clean Water Act,” EPA said.

“In light of the Commission’s recent action on the ELI Project, and its final approval of a similar project to serve Long Island, Iroquois believes that a procedural pause in agency reviews is a proper and valid request,” the pipeline said in its request for a deferral.

Iroquois’ Oct. 3 motion indicates that “This pause will permit the Commission, governmental entities at the state and local level, Iroquois and interested private stakeholders to conserve valuable time and resources that otherwise would be expended were environmental reviews and analyses to continue on schedule. This pause in the consideration of the ELI Project also will allow time for market participants to consider the implications of the Sept. 19, 2002 orders … ”

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