Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) has asked FERC to schedule aconference to take a “hard look” at “viable alternatives” – notablythose using turned-back capacity – to the controversialIndependence-MarketLink pipeline projects and perhaps the proposedMillennium Pipeline.

Such a forum is needed to address the potential for “unnecessaryduplication” of existing capacity posed by the proposedNortheast-bound facilities, “further define” the anticipated gasdemand, address shortfalls in the draft environmental impactstatements (DEIS), and to give sponsors a chance to respond indetail to staff data requests, Tetco said in its request[CP97-515].

“A face-to-face meeting will lead to resolution of matterssooner for the project sponsors, project shippers and alternativeprojects,” it told FERC. The meeting could take the form of eithera technical conference, settlement conference, mediation or otheralternative dispute resolution. And while its focus would be on therelated Independence-MarketLink projects, Tetco said the proposedconference also “may have relevance” for the proposed Millenniumsystem, whose key sponsor is Columbia Gas Transmission. Sponsors ofIndependence are ANR Pipeline, National Fuel Gas Supply andWilliams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, while MarketLink issolely a Transco project.

One proposed alternative that Tetco wants the Commission toseriously weigh is its own. It contends it has enough existing andprojected turned-back capacity on its system that, when combinedwith “certain additional construction,” would satisfy the customerneeds of the Independence line and a portion of MarketLink.Specifically, Tetco said it could satisfy market demand of 663,000Dth/d from an interconnection with ANR Pipeline at Muncie, IN, toLinden, NJ – a demand level that is “commensurate” with theexisting subscriptions for MarketLink (663,000 Dth/d) and 34,000Dth/d more than the current subscribed level for Independence(629,000 Dth/d).

Tetco outlined its alternative for the Commission in June,pointing out that it previously was overlooked by FERC staff in itsDEIS on Independence. The Commission staff subsequently asked Tetcoto provide it with “supplemental comments” on its alternative,which it has done.

This, as well as other incidents “raise[s] questions…about theadequacy of the DEIS in its evaluation of alternatives,” andwhether staff’s analysis conformed to the standards of the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act (NEPA), Tetco said. Others, such asTennessee Gas Pipeline, CNG Transmission Corp. and ConsolidatedEdison, also have challenged the adequacy of FERC staff’sassessment of alternatives to Independence in the DEIS, Tetconoted.

With respect to Millennium, sponsors of Independence havesuggested an alternative that calls for the 417-mile Columbiaproject to be folded into an expanded Independence and SupplyLink(a looping, compression project). Likewise, Tennessee has proposedtwo alternatives to Millennium – one for 700 MDth/d and another for300 MDth/d.

The proliferation of project alternatives has given rise to a”number of issues and factual disputes,” Tetco said. It believes aconference is warranted to provide a “reasonable review of and’hard look’ at viable alternatives, including partialalternatives.”

Susan Parker

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