FERC Friday issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of a Kentucky-based storage developer’s proposal to construct and operate a 5 Bcf underground natural gas storage facility in Hopkins County, KY.

“Approval of the proposed project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concluded in the EA on the Kentucky Energy Hub Project [CP08-409].

Orbit Gas Storage Inc. of Henderson, KY, proposes to convert the depleted White Plains Gas Field in western Kentucky to gas storage and build a 13-mile, 24-inch diameter pipeline; an eight-mile, 16-inch diameter gathering system; a new 5,400 hp compressor station; 10 storage wells and associated facilities.

The storage project would provide 100 MMcf/d of storage deliverability for service in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and would interconnect with ANR Pipeline near Rabbit Ridge, KY, according to the FERC EA.

Orbit Gas, which was formed in 2006, has requested market-based rate authority to provide open-access firm and interruptible storage services in interstate commerce.

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