Daniel Adamson, FERC director of the Office of Energy Projects,fired off a letter of rejection to Millennium Pipeline last week,regarding an amendment application for a proposed route changealong the highly controversial power transmission right of way inWestchester County, NY. He also told Millennium officials toconsider substituting a proposed extension of the Iroquois GasTransmission system for the Millennium project.

New York regulators forced Millennium to change the route alongConsolidated Edison’s six 345 kV high voltage transmission linesbecause of safety concerns (see Daily GPI, April 24 and May11). Millennium filed the amendment April 9. Adamson, however,told Millennium’s David Pentzien the amendment application waswoefully inadequate because it was missing numerous environmentaldetails and a discussion of the impact on the cost of developing theproject. He said the filing lacked significant data and environmentalanalysis, including impact on endangered species, detailed discussionof the impact on habitat at certain river crossings, or specificinformation about pipeline locations in relation to established rightof way.

“Your amendment application filed in Docket No. CP98-150-001seeking authorization to construct the Millennium Pipeline isdeficient,” Adamson said. “Our review shows that MillenniumPipeline Company (Millennium) failed to include the minimumrequired environmental information needed for the Commission staffto begin processing of a complete application… Therefore theamendment application…is rejected without prejudice to Millenniumrefiling a complete application.”

Adamson also ordered Millennium officials to submit a discussionof Iroquois Gas Transmission’s Eastchester Project as a possiblealternative to the entire Millennium project or for the portion ofMillennium in Westchester County. Iroquois filed an application forthe project last month. The $170 million, 30-mile extension wouldhelp meet gas demand in New York City. It would run from Iroquois’mainline in Northport, Long Island 27 miles beneath Long IslandSound to a connection with ConEd’s gas lines in the Bronx. It alsowould involve building several new compressor stations and addingcompression at existing stations. If approved, the EastchesterExtension project will start service in 2002. It initially woulddeliver about 220 MMcf/d of gas compared to Millennium’s proposed714 MMcf/d. It also would be significantly cheaper to build thanthe $650 million, 442-mile Millennium project.

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