FERC Chairman James Hoecker said yesterday the Commissionintends to proceed with a vote on the hotly contested MarketLinkexpansion next week despite New Jersey Gov. Christine ToddWhitman’s threat of a lawsuit if the project is approved.

“It’s on the agenda, that’s all I can say. I don’t have anyplans to do anything but act on it,” he said at the mid-yearmeeting of the Federal Energy Bar Association, which has beenre-named the Energy Bar Association, in Washington D.C.

“This is a very controversial project. I really shouldn’tcomment any further since the Commission is going to consider itnext week,” Hoecker noted. At the eye of the storm is an expansionof Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s existing system that wouldtraverse the northern part of the Garden State.

The MarketLink expansion has been contested by landowners inPennsylvania and New Jersey. But FERC staff has issued a favorablefinal environmental impact statement (FEIS), which pretty muchcinches the project’s approval by the Commission.

Separately, Hoecker didn’t rule out the possibility that FERCwill issue a final rule addressing a wide range of post-Order 636gas initiatives on Dec. 15, the last regular Commission meeting of1999. “We’re working hard on that docket. We’re hopefully going toget something done at the end of the year. We’ll just see how itgoes.”

But some energy lawyers at the meeting had heard that FERCCommissioners hadn’t even seen a draft of a final rule yet, so theyweren’t getting their hopes up too high. Asked about this, Hoeckersaid, “I’m not going to comment on our internal process. I justcan’t do that.”

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