Massachusetts’ two US senators asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revoke its Apr. 12 permission for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. (TGP) to begin construction of a natural gas pipeline project in the western Bay State until a rehearing can be held. Nearly a year has passed since FERC granted a request for the rehearing, Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey said in their Apr. 18 letter to FERC Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur.
Citizens of Sandisfield, Mass., sought the rehearing soon after the commission approved the Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) subsidiary’s project in March 2016, the senators noted. “The request challenged [FERC’s] findings on multiple grounds, including the project’s subsidization by ratepayers, irreparable harm to the environment, and the lack of necessity of the project to meet regional energy needs,” their letter said.
“While the commission had the opportunity to outright deny the request for rehearing, it found substantial merit to grant the rehearing request,” it added.
Warren and Markey also noted that in a Mar. 20 letter, LaFleur said FERC was unable to act on the rehearing request because it was left without a quorum following the Feb. 3 resignation of former Chairman Norman Bay. “Once the commission has a quorum, [it] will act on the rehearing requests,” she said.
“If FERC cannot act on requests for rehearing because it is without a quorum, it should not allow FERC staff to authorize projects that are the subject of rehearing requests to go forward,” the senators said. “Nowhere in your Mar. 20 response did you indicate that FERC staff would allow projects to proceed before a quorum could be reconstituted and pending requests for rehearing could be considered.”
TGP’s $93-million Connecticut Expansion Project consists of 13.4 miles of 24-in. and 36-in. line looping in Albany County, NY; Berkshire and Hampden Counties, Mass.; and Hartford County, Conn. There also would be minor modifications at one compressor station in Massachusetts as well as installation of minor appurtenant facilities, KMI said.
It will upgrade TGP’s existing system in the three states and help meet growing demand for gas transportation capacity in the US Northeast, the company said. It expects to put the project into service on Nov. 1.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
