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FERC signs off on Millennium's $275M pipeline upgrade project in New York

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FERC signs off on Millennium's $275M pipeline upgrade project in New York

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Millennium Pipeline Co. LLC's Eastern System upgrade project in New York, which will provide 223,000 Dth/d of firm natural gas transportation service for local distribution companies and municipalities.

The commission issued the certificate order for the estimated $275 million project on Nov. 28, almost two months after Millennium requested expedited approval for the expansion. The project will include 7.8 miles of 30-inch-diameter and 36-inch-diameter pipeline loop between Millennium's Corning compressor station and an interconnect with an Enbridge Inc. system in Ramapo, N.Y.; a new 22,400-horsepower compressor station; and upgrades at existing compressor stations.

Millennium said nine shippers have booked 202,500 Dth/d of capacity and it is marketing the remaining 20,500 Dth/d of available service. In the authorization, FERC also ordered that the project must be ready for service by Nov. 28, 2019. System changes will be located in Orange, Sullivan, Delaware and Rockland counties in New York.

When Millennium, which is owned by Columbia Pipeline Group Inc., DTE Energy Co. and National Grid plc applied for the project on July 29, 2016, it hoped FERC would authorize the project by the end of July 2017 in order to meet an in-service date of September 2018. The application was delayed while FERC had fewer than three voting members, and therefore unable to approve pipeline projects and other energy infrastructure, between February and August.

Prior to the certificate order, the Sierra Club raised concerns over downstream greenhouse gas emissions and requested a more thorough environmental review of the project. The commission determined FERC staff's positive environmental review of the project sufficiently considered the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. "In the [environmental assessment for the Eastern System upgrade project], we estimated the downstream GHG emissions," the commission said. (FERC docket CP16-486)