Texas Eastern Transmission LP proposed a pipeline project that would help the company maintain its current levels of natural gas transportation service while protecting its system from longwall mining by Consol Energy Inc. in Marshall County, W.Va.
Texas Eastern, an Enbridge Inc. subsidiary, submitted an abbreviated application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 19 for its Bailey East Mine Panel 11J project.
The project would elevate four mainline segments, replace two of them, and put them back into service in their elevated position while the mining takes place. After mining and potential ground subsidence, Texas Eastern would return the segments to their underground location. The lines would have to be taken out of service with each move. Texas Eastern said the project would cost about $30.5 million.
"Due to the risk to the integrity of the pipelines and the potential interruption to service that longwall mining activities could introduce, including possible buckling, Texas Eastern has designed the Bailey East Mine Panel 11J project to protect Texas Eastern's facilities that traverse CONSOL's mine in this area," Texas Eastern said in the application.
"As the segments of Texas Eastern's system described herein deliver critically important natural gas supplies contracted on a firm basis, the project is also designed to ensure that certificated levels of service can be maintained for the duration of the longwall mining activities," the pipeline said.
Texas Eastern said Consol will take about five weeks to conduct longwall mining operations in the area below the pipeline system. This form of underground mining uses a machine to remove a wide block of coal without leaving roof supports, and it can cause settling in the ground above the coal seam.
The pipeline company asked FERC to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity and any other authorizations by March 31, 2020. Project activities could start as early as May 2020 to put the pipelines in their raised position by October 2020, before Texas Eastern's winter heating season and before Consol's longwall mining in January 2021. Texas Eastern told FERC that it plans to begin the work to reinstall the pipeline segments in May 2021 and have the buried lines ready by October 2021. (FERC docket CP19-501)
On Aug. 1, an explosion occurred on a portion of the Texas Eastern interstate gas pipeline system in Lincoln County, Ky. It was the second time in 2019 that a blast interrupted service on the system.
