Hearing to consider pipeline expansion project

(Map: Transco.)

Pennsylvania environmental regulators have scheduled a public hearing to consider a proposed expansion of an existing natural gas pipeline from northeastern Pennsylvania to New Jersey. The virtual public hearing, hosted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), is scheduled for 7 pm Oct. 5.

Williams has applied for authorization to boost the capacity of its Transco Gas Pipe Line in what it calls the Regional Energy Access Expansion Project. Once approved and completed, it would improve the link between Marcellus Shale gas and multiple natural gas delivery points in New Jersey.

The project will consist of new pipelines, a new gas-fired turbine driven compressor station, addition of gas-fired turbine driven compressor units at existing compressor stations, modification and uprate of existing compressors, abandonment of existing gas-fired compressors, modifications to existing compressor stations, modifications to existing pipeline tie-ins, addition of regulation controls at an existing valve setting, and modifications to existing regulators.

“Regional Energy Access will help ease supply constraints affecting customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, providing enough natural gas supply to serve approximately 3 million homes,” Williams says of the project designed to increase natural gas transportation capacity by up to 829,400 dekatherms per day.

If approved and completed, the proposed project will extend across three Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regions: 3 counties in the Northeast Region (Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton), 3 counties in the Southeast Region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware), and 1 county in the Southcentral Region (York), Williams said.

The Project will not require earth disturbance in Delaware and York counties. The project requires several permits from DEP.

In March 2021, Transco asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for authorization to expand its natural gas transmission system in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland and to replace and upgrade some of its compression stations in the region. The work would allow it to provide an additional 829 MMcf/d of natural gas to multiple delivery points along its existing system and give customers in the Marcellus and Utica shale better access to markets in the northeast.

Depending on regulatory approval, Transco plans to begin construction in 2Q23 and to place the facilities into service in 4Q24. The regional energy access project includes the addition of 30 and 42-inch pipelines and significant modifications to five compressor stations in the region.