The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will prepare an environmental assessment (EA) on the New York Bay Expansion Project, involving construction and operation of facilities by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) in Chester, Pennsylvania; Essex and Middlesex, New Jersey; and Richmond, New York.
The commission said in an Oct. 8 public notice that it will use this EA in its decision-making process to determine whether the project is in the public convenience and necessity. It will take comments until Nov. 8 on what should be covered in the EA.
Transco proposes the New York Bay Expansion Project to modify existing facilities and replace existing pipeline to provide an additional 115,000 dekatherms per day of firm transportation service to National Grid in New York to meet 2017-2018 winter heating season needs. The project would involve the following activities at existing aboveground facilities in the specified towns and municipalities:
- uprate Compressor Station 200 from 30,860 horsepower (hp) to 33,000 hp (East Whiteland Township, Chester, Pennsylvania);
- uprate a unit of Compressor Station 303 from 25,000 hp to 27,500 hp (Roseland Borough, Essex, New Jersey);
- add 11,000 hp of electric-driven compression to Compressor Station 207 (Old Bridge Township, Middlesex, New Jersey); and
- install various appurtenances and modifications at three meter and regulation stations in East Brandywine Township (Chester, Pennsylvania), Sayreville Borough (Middlesex, New Jersey), and Staten Island Borough (Richmond, New York).
In addition, Transco proposes to replace three segments of its 42-inch-diameter Lower New York Bay Lateral pipeline, totaling 0.25 mile, and uprate the lateral pipeline’s operating pressure from 960 to 1,000 pounds per square inch in Middlesex County, N.J.
