FERC Friday issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) pipeline’s proposal to build its proposed Northern Bridge project to transport 150 MMcf/d of Rocky Mountain natural gas to Northeast markets.

“The proposed project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded in the EA [CP08-100].

The Northern Bridge project calls for the construction of new facilities that would extend from Clarington, OH, the terminus of the 1,678-mile Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), to the Oakford/Delmont, PA, region, providing for delivery of 500 MMcf/d.

Northern Bridge would be constructed entirely within Tetco’s existing facilities footprint through the addition of new and enhanced compression in Greene and Fayette counties in Pennsylvania. Tetco said it has executed precedent agreements for the full amount of the capacity with BP Energy Co. and Merrill Lynch Commodities. The estimated cost of the project is about $45 million, according to Houston-based Spectra Energy, Tetco’s parent.

Tetco has asked the Commission to issue a certificate by mid-December. Spectra Energy said the project has an anticipated in-service date of November 2009.

In addition to Northern Bridge, Tetco is pursuing its proposed Texas Eastern Incremental Market Expansion project, an expansion of the pipeline from Oakford to the Northeast markets through additional compression and pipeline looping. The project, which also would provide Rockies producers with greater market access, would have an estimated cost of $300 million and is targeted for service in late 2010, Spectra Energy said.

Spectra Energy is only one of many pipeline companies planning to build projects from the terminus of REX in Ohio to Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets. Other companies that have either proposed or are considering similar projects include REX itself, El Paso and Equitable Resources, Dominion Resources, National Fuel Gas and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line.

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