Certificate

The embattled Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) has notched a mark in the win column as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit this week denied a series of petitions seeking to revisit the project’s FERC certificate.

FERC has granted another two-year extension for Constitution Pipeline to enter service as the sponsors continue to exhaust all legal options in their nearly three-year battle against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which denied a key permit.

FERC sent mixed signals late Friday after it issued a certificate order authorizing the PennEast Pipeline, a broader indication of the regulatory hurdles the project still faces at the state level as it plods toward a targeted 2019 in-service date.

Capping a chaotic three days, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia late Wednesday denied an emergency motion to stay FERC’s certificate for the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. (Transco) Atlantic Sunrise expansion, allowing construction to immediately resume.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ordered a temporary stay of construction on the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) Atlantic Sunrise project in the latest setback for the Northeast infrastructure build-out.

FERC is weighing in officially on New York’s stance against natural gas, issuing an order on Friday that found the state waived its authority to issue a decision on Millennium Pipeline Co. LLC’s water quality certification (WQC) for the Valley Lateral Project because it took too long.

The dust has settled after a busy week at FERC, and while several major natural gas pipeline projects have certainty moving forward, others face risks of delay as the Commission heads into a quorumless stretch.

FERC issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC (TGP) on Thursday, authorizing it to construct and operate the Orion Project, a looping project on its 300 Line designed to serve increasing demand in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

Rover Pipeline LLC is urging FERC to approve its certificate application by the end of this month, warning that if it can’t start tree clearing by mid-January the project “very likely will be delayed for up to a full year.”