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NY agency asks court to stop Millennium's Valley Lateral gas line

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NY agency asks court to stop Millennium's Valley Lateral gas line

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation asked a federal appeals court to support its request for a stay to the Millennium Pipeline Co. LLC natural gas pipeline project, while the pipeline company warned of financial impacts to a CPV Valley power generation plant, the 720-MW CPV Valley Energy Center.

The state agency claimed in a Nov. 28 filing with the U.S. Appeals Court for the 2nd Circuit that granting permission to Millennium to begin building its Valley Lateral pipeline project would cause "irreparable harm" to the department's "interests in protecting state water quality and irreversible effects on the environment ... Absent a stay, Millennium will begin constructing the project immediately and could be finished in a few months."

In a Nov. 20 request to the court, Millennium asked the court to deny the department's request for the stay "so that the department does not obtain the practical equivalent of a stay through judicial motion." The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission joined Millennium in opposing the request for a stay of the project.

Millennium also asked for permission to begin construction on the Valley Lateral pipeline project by Dec. 7, due to the presence of an unoccupied eagle's nest discovered in the project area. To avoid potential harm to the eagles, Millennium said it must complete work in the area before Dec. 31. The developer said the latest date it can begin construction in time to meet that deadline is Dec. 7. Any further delays, Millennium said, would force it to request an incidental take permit, which would allow the developer to disturb the nest during construction but which could take months to acquire.

Millennium also said if it cannot meet the Dec. 31 deadline, construction activities would be stalled until November 2018 and would cost CPV $73 million.

"Indeed, a construction delay until November 2018 would create an event of default under CPV's loans and CPV could be pushed into bankruptcy by its lenders," Millennium said. Construction of the power plant in Orange County, N.Y., is nearly complete.

The 7.8-mile lateral would deliver up to 127,200 Dth/d of firm gas transportation service to the CPV Valley power plant.

FERC issued a certificate order for the lateral in November 2016. On Nov. 15, 2017, the commission upheld an earlier decision to remove the New York agency from the permitting process for the project. (U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit docket 17-3503, FERC docket CP16-17)