Work Can Start on 1st Algonquin Pipeline Project: FERC

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued permission Tuesday for Spectra Energy to begin work on the AIM project, its first in a series to expand the Algonquin Pipeline.

Spectra has filed plans with FERC to expand the pipeline in stages; so far, two have been delineated. The first, called AIM, covers compressor stations in Stony Point and Southeast plus about 37 miles of pipe, including under the Hudson River, in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The second, called Atlantic Bridge, covers other short segments of the pipeline between New York and Canada.

The letter from Environmental Project Manager Magdalene Suter reads in part:

I grant your October 2, 2015 request for Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC (Algonquin) to construct the following Algonquin Incremental Market Project facilities in Rockland and Westchester County, New York:

• Stony Point to Yorktown Take-up and Relay pipeline from Station 160+38.4 to 290+23.2, including the Hudson River horizontal directional drill;
• Stony Point to Yorktown Take-up and Relay Valve Site 15 from Station 579+16.6 to 581+62.9; and
• Stony Point to Yorktown Take-up and Relay Valve Site 15B and associated workspace from Station 644+00 to 648+12.

She notes that this ”does not grant Algonquin the authority to utilize any additional workspaces that were not approved in the Order, modifications to facility locations or workspaces, or to commence any additional construction activities associated with the Algonquin Incremental Market Project.”

FERC has already given Spectra Energy the green light to start expanding its compressor station in Stony Point, and it OK’d construction prep work in Montrose and Pomona.

SEE:

• Pipeline Foes Stage Die-In to Protest Public Health Dangers
• FERC Says Environmental Impacts of Pipeline Expansion Minimal
• Is Algonquin Expansion Part of System Upgrade: FERC
• Spectra Files Next Stage of Algonquin Pipeline Expansion

MAP/ Spectra Energy