RICHMOND, Va. — Dominion on behalf of its joint venture partners in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, today submitted a request to begin the pre-filing process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking the commission to begin its environmental review of the proposed $4.5 billion to $5 billion, 550-mile natural gas pipeline.
One pipeline
Four major U.S. energy companies – Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources plan to build and own the pipeline, which would run from Harrison County, W.Va., southeast through Virginia with an extension to Chesapeake, Va., and then south through eastern North Carolina to Robeson County.
Clean energy
The pipeline would help meet the growing clean energy needs of Virginia and North Carolina by providing direct access to the burgeoning natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shale basins of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The extensive FERC review process that begins with pre-filing solicits input from numerous local, state and federal entities, and private citizens. Public safety, air quality, water resources, geology, soils, wildlife and vegetation, threatened and endangered species, land and visual resources, cultural and historic resources, noise, cumulative impacts and reasonable alternatives are fully examined.
Approval needed
The project will need the approvals of 40 federal, state and local regulatory agencies before construction can begin. So far, the program has included 13 informational open houses along the route attended by more than 3,600 people.
Additional open houses will be scheduled for January 2015, followed by FERC-led scoping meetings shortly thereafter.
Information packets
Informational packets also will be mailed to about 5,500 property owners along the proposed pipeline route and within a half-mile of potential compressor station locations.
The company expects to file its FERC application next summer, receive the FERC Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in the summer of 2016 and begin construction shortly thereafter.
Operation date set
The pipeline is expected to be in service by late 2018.
The main pipeline would have a 42-inch diameter in West Virginia and Virginia, reducing to 36 inches in diameter in North Carolina. Virginia and North Carolina have limited access to supplies from the Marcellus and Utica shales and have a need for increased infrastructure to support growing demand for natural gas-fired generation, and to add supply diversity for reliability and price stability.
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