FERC grants Columbia more time for pipe project facing easement hurdles

Washington — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Columbia Gas Transmission a three-year extension on authorization to build the Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project in Maryland, setting aside objections from individuals and environmental groups.

The 3.4-mile, 47,500 Dt/d interstate natural gas pipeline project, which will deliver gas supplies from Pennsylvania to West Virginia utility Mountaineer Gas in Morgan County, has faced strong opposition despite its small scale.

Faced with a Maryland denial and adverse court rulings related to a state easement needed to cross the Western Maryland Rail Trail in Maryland, Columbia in early July asked FERC for a three-year extension until July 19, 2023, of its authorization to build the project.

That extension request drew objections from environmental groups and others, who argued circumstances had changed -- that new environmental information was available, that the project no longer fulfilled a public convenience and necessity, and that the roadblocks the project faced in Maryland were foreseeable.

FERC, in an Aug. 25 order granting Columbia the extra time, concluded the extension will not undermine FERC's findings that the project is required for the public convenience and necessity. The commission noted that terms of the precedent agreement with Mountaineer Gas extend many years beyond 2023, and it found suggestions that an extension would alter the need for the project to be "speculative."

'Desperately needed'

Of note, Mountaineer Gas, in Aug. 13 comments, said the pipeline would provide it with "desperately needed capacity in its rapidly growing eastern panhandle of West Virginia market area." It said opponents were wrong to assert the pipeline was no longer needed because the utility found other ways to get the gas using trucked LNG or compressed gas.

"This interim, temporary, stop-gap measure is both expensive compared to pipeline delivery of natural gas at market-based prices and unreliable compared to pipeline capacity because CNG and LNG shipments via trucks could be interrupted for any number of reasons," Mountaineer Gas wrote.

The utility also attacked the notion that Columbia should have anticipated the hurdles in Maryland. "It was not foreseeable and it is frankly unfathomable that a 66-foot wide, old, railroad right-of-way that has had the tracks removed and 10 or 12 feet of gravel laid down for a trail could be used as a weapon to defeat a federally certificated pipeline that would deliver natural gas as required by the public convenience and necessity," Mountaneer wrote.

FERC set aside various other objections raised to the extension. In light of the easement hurdles, FERC noted Columbia is still in the appeals process and that FERC would consider any request to modify the route. As to environmental conditions, FERC found the record did not reflect changes compelling the commission to reconsider its finding that the project is an environmentally acceptable action.

The debate over the Eastern Panhandle expansion comes as some states have raised sovereign immunity claims to prevent pipelines from crossing state lands. In a recent win for such states, and setback for pipeline developers, the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals found because of New Jersey's state sovereign immunity, the 1.1 Bcf/d PennEast Pipeline lacked authority to pull states into federal court for condemnation proceedings. The ruling has been appealed to the Supreme Court, and the outcome of that appeal could have bearing on the Eastern Panhandle project as well.