FERC on Thursday issued a favorable environmental review of Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s proposed expansion of its system to provide customers in the Northeast with diversified supplies, including newly accessed Appalachian Basin and Marcellus Shale gas.

“Approval of the project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” said the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which was assisted by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in the environmental assessment (EA) of of the 300 Line project [CP09-444].

The project calls for Tennessee to install approximately 127.4 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline loop in seven segments in northeastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey, along with 55,058 hp of additional compression. The expansion would increase Tennessee’s capacity to the Northeast by approximately 350,000 Dth/d, according to the EA. It would provide greater access to gas supplies from the Gulf Coast, Appalachian, Rockies and Marcellus Shale supply areas.

Tennessee, a pipeline subsidiary of El Paso Corp., said it expects to begin construction in the second half of this year, assuming it receives a certificate from the Commission. It has targeted the expansion for operation by November 2011.

The pipeline has signed a binding precedent agreement with one shipper, Equitable Energy LLC, for all of the firm capacity to be created by the project.

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