Transco delays pipeline project one year
The low price of natural gas has caused a company to delay construction of a proposed interstate pipeline system through Greene, Fayette and many other counties.
On May 1, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. (Transco), an affiliate of Williams of Tulsa, Okla., withdrew its request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a pre-filing review of the Atlantic Access Project, which also included a compressor station in Fayette County, and delayed the intended start-up of the pipeline system by one year until 2015.
“We’re not going to build anything unless our customers need it,” Williams spokesman Chris Stockton said. “It’s really about timing with them. With (low) gas prices, our customers say the infrastructure is needed, but the timing of the original proposal…2015 is probably more of a reasonable time frame.”
The proposed Atlantic Access Project includes a 36-inch diameter “Natrium Line” running 252 miles through eight counties including Fayette County, a “Butler Lateral” running from Butler County into Fayette County, a “Majorsville Lateral” running from the Natrium line through Greene County to a processing plant near Majorsville, W.Va. and a compressor station in Fayette County.
The Natrium line would begin in Luzerne Township and run through Menallen, North Union, Dunbar and Springfield townships before entering Somerset County where it would connect to 1,700 miles of pipeline that stretches from New York to Texas.
Transco’s customers would be gas exploration companies drilling for Marcellus shale gas. Transco would have been authorized to use eminent domain to acquire the right of ways needed to build the system.
“We want to make sure we don’t build something our customers can’t use. It’s a very fluid process. We’re not canceling the project. We want to make sure what we build is what customers need,” Stockton said.
Landowners in the proposed right of way for the pipeline have been notified about the delay, Stockton said.
He said the company would have a clearer picture of the scope of the project in the fall.
“Apparently they had a few customers, but they need some more,” said FERC spokesperson Tamara Young-Allen. “They’re trying to pull in some new customers.”
Residents who have been following developments in the project through FERC’s website should know that Transco would have a different docket number when or if it requests a new pre-filing review, Young-Allen said. FERC’s website allows people to track projects using docket numbers.