The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reissued a certificate Aug. 28 allowing Transco to build its Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) natural gas project to supply up to 400,000 dekatherms/day to New York City. This comes more than 5 years after Williams Cos., the project sponsor, shelved NESE amid state and public opposition.
William asked FERC to reapprove the expired project in May, citing President Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency that particularly highlighted the Northeast region. Williams said the purpose, need, scope and impacts of NESE remained unchanged from FERC’s initial May 2019 approval.
FERC agreed with Williams’ assessment. “We find that Transco has demonstrated a need for the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, that the project will not have adverse impacts on existing customers, or existing pipelines and their existing customers, and that it will have minimal impacts on the interests of landowners and surrounding communities,” the commission wrote in its order.
The company is targeting in-service in fourth-quarter 2027.
The reissuance allows Transco to again move forward with the pipeline from Transco’s Compressor Station 195 in York County, Pa., to its offshore Rockaway Transfer Point, an existing interconnection between the Lower New York Bay Lateral and the Rockaway Delivery Lateral in New York State waters.
The company is also seeking to revive the 650 MMcfd Constitution pipeline to transport Marcellus shale gas to New York markets. Transco scrapped the project in 2020, despite previous FERC approval, because it was unable to secure state water permits.