FERC on Friday gave Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC (TGP) the go-ahead on rehearing to construct and place into service by Nov. 1 its Northeast Upgrade Project, an expansion of the pipeline’s 300 Line that is intended to move more Marcellus Shale gas to Northeast markets.

In its order [CP11-161-001], the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied requests for stay by the Sierra Club and a private New Jersey landowner and gave Kinder Morgan’s TGP additional time to complete the project. Late last May, FERC approved the project (see Shale Daily, May 31, 2012). However, on rehearing FERC considered multiple objections raised by environmental organizations led by the Sierra Club.

Sierra Club alleged that the Commission engaged in improper segmentation by not considering Northeast Upgrade along with three other projects on the eastern leg of TGP’s 300 Line (the 300 Line Project, MPP Project and NSD Project). Sierra Club said that since the combined projects loop the eastern leg of the 300 Line, are inter-related and inter-dependent, FERC should have completed a single environmental impact statement (EIS) on them instead of completing an environmental assessment (EA) on Northeast Upgrade.

FERC reiterated that it had “found that each project is a stand-alone project and designed to provide contracted-for volumes of gas to different customers within different timeframes. We also found that the 300 Line Project is currently in operation and is not dependent on the Northeast Upgrade Project facilities,” the Commission said. The argument of improper segmentation of review of Northeast Upgrade from NSD and MPP was rejected because it was raised for the first time during rehearing, FERC said.

A theme to some of Sierra Club’s other objections to the project was a broader resistance to Marcellus Shale gas development in general. Besides the impact of other TGP eastern leg projects, FERC should have considered the implications of further shale gas development due to approval of Northeast Upgrade, the Commission said in characterizing the Sierra Club position.

“Sierra Club maintains that the Commission is a ‘gatekeeper’ for private action arguing that upstream activities in the Marcellus Shale region will only proceed if the Commission continues to expand access to markets through approval of interstate pipeline projects,” FERC said, later adding that it rejects the “gatekeeper” role under such circumstances.

It’s worth noting that in its unrelated opposition to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, Sierra Club has made an analogous argument: that the development of LNG export capacity will lead to expanded (and undesirable) shale gas development in the United States. The environmental group appears to be attempting to push its argument against shale gas development into as many forums as it can.

In Northeast Upgrade, FERC responded that the EA “considered the general development of the Marcellus Shale region in the vicinity of the project…As explained in the May 29 Order, we correctly determined that a fuller analysis is not required by NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] because the Marcellus Shale development is not causally-related, and anticipated future activities are not reasonably foreseeable…

“Development of natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale region will continue even without the project, and unregulated developers will continue to build new wells and and gathering systems to serve the shale gas.”

Other arguments against the project made by Sierra Club were found to be lacking merit. FERC noted that 84% of the proposed segments of Northeast Upgrade are to be located within or parallel to existing rights-of-way.

FERC also considered and rejected the objections of New Jersey landowner George Feighner, who opposed the siting of a portion of the project’s Loop 323 on his property. The route of Loop 323 deviates from existing right-of-way in order to avoid the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (NRA) and the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS). To lay Loop 323 along existing right-of-way would require Congressional approval because of the protected status of the NRA, FERC said.

“While we recognized that the two alternative routes [for Loop 323] considered in the EA would result in less environmental impact, we found that they were not reasonable or practical because of the land use conflict raised by the NPS, FERC said.

“…[G]iven the uncertainty of obtaining favorable legislation, as well as the timing of any such legislation or action, approving one of the alternative routes and requiring Tennessee to pursue Congressional authorization would likely result in the project not getting built in time to meet the demand evidenced by [TGP’s signed customer] precedent agreements.”

The $376 million project will allow an additional 636,000 Dth/d to be transported along Tennessee’s 300 Line in Pennsylvania to an interconnect with Algonquin Gas Transmission in Mahwah, NJ, to serve the Northeast. To create the additional capacity, Tennessee, proposed upgrading the remaining 24-inch diameter parts of the 300 Line by constructing five 30-inch diameter loops and modifying four compressor stations. The five loops (totaling 40.3 miles) will close out the remaining unlooped segments of Tennessee’s existing 300 Line east of Bradford County, PA into New Jersey.