Viking Voyageur Gas Transmission called on FERC to dismiss ANRPipeline’s latest attacks on its project, saying they were”thinly-veiled” efforts to prevent, or “at least delay for as longas possible,” construction of a pipeline project that would bringsorely-needed competition into ANR’s Wisconsin market area.Voyageur, which would import Canadian gas into several Midwestmarkets, “is a significant threat to ANR’s market dominance inWisconsin. As a result, ANR has made every possible effort tothwart the Commission’s pro-competitive policies by delayingVoyageur’s project,” the proposed pipeline said in comments at theCommission [CP98-65].

Among its protests, ANR insists the project should be put on theback burner until Viking Voyageur publicly discloses whether it hassufficient market support. It also contends that the constructioncosts for Viking Voyageur have been underestimated; and that theproject’s environmental report is incomplete because it doesn’tcover third-party lateral facilities that may be built to servemarkets in Wisconsin.

“The magnitude of ANR’s efforts to derail Voyageur’s projectspeaks volumes as to how dearly ANR values its market dominance,”said Viking Voyageur. “It is precisely this type of marketdominance that the Commission’s open-access policy was designed toeliminate.”

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