The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a final environmental impact statement for the proposed 600-mile, 1.5-bcfd underground Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
FERC concluded that while construction and operation of the pipeline would result in some adverse effects, implementation of impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures, as well as adherence to FERC staff’s recommendations in the EIS, would reduce most of the impacts to less-than-significant levels.
Among the approvals sought, Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC plans to construct, operate, and maintain 333.4 miles of 42-in. OD mainline pipeline; 186.3 miles of 36-in. OD mainline pipeline; 83.4 miles of 20-in. OD lateral pipeline; 1.4 miles of 16-in. OD lateral pipeline; 3 compressor stations totaling about 130,348 hp; 9 meter and regulating stations; 11 pig launcher and receiver facilities; and 41 valves in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
The pipeline will originate in Harrison County, W.Va., extend to Greensville County, Va., with a lateral reaching to Chesapeake, Va., and then continue south into eastern North Carolina, terminating in Robeson County (OGJ Online, Jan. 3, 2017).
Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC is owned by Dominion Energy Inc., Duke Energy Corp., Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc., and Southern Co. Gas LLC. The firms have targeted bringing the pipeline into service in 2019.
“The favorable [EIS] report released today provides a clear path for final approval of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline this fall,” commented Leslie Hartz, Dominion’s vice-president, engineering and construction.
“The report concludes that the project can be built safely and with minimal long-term impacts to the environment,” Hartz continued. “The report also reinforces previous findings by the FERC and decades of research demonstrating that natural gas pipelines do not adversely impact tourist economies or residential property values.”
The EIS also included possible impacts from Dominion’s proposed supply header project comprising 37½ miles of pipeline and the modification of existing compression facilities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
