FERC on Thursday granted Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) a two-year extension to build and place its Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) into service.
The project’s certificate order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had originally called on Transco to bring the 400,000 Dth/d expansion online by May 3. However, the project, designed to expand natural gas service into New York City, has faced regulatory setbacks at the state level.
Last year the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection each denied water quality permits under section 401 of the Clean Water Act needed for the NESE to move forward with construction.
FERC order, issued as part of the Commission’s monthly meeting Thursday, noted that Transco intends to refile certification applications with the two state agencies. The binding precedent agreements between Transco and National Grid underlying the project remain in effect, according to the order.
Transco maintains that “the project will remain essential to meeting National Grid’s demand once New York City begins to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the document showed.
Still, FERC Chairman Richard Glick on Twitter Thursday made it clear that he has no intention of stepping in to overrule state regulators on behalf of NESE.
“Today’s Transco order does not change the state of play,” Glick, a Democrat, wrote. If New York and New Jersey regulators “do not change their minds and grant the project section 401 water quality certificates, FERC cannot permit the enhancement project to proceed.”
The Northeast has proven a notoriously difficult region in which to build new natural gas infrastructure in recent years, with political leaders there proposing bans and making promises to move on from fossil fuels.
Last year, the Constitution Pipeline was canceled after an eight-year battle. Meanwhile, PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC, under development for more than five years, has had to take its fight against New Jersey officials all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
