New Jersey Resources’ (NJR) proposed Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project in the Greater Philadelphia region has secured Environmental Assessment (EA) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Staff.
Image: FERC staff issues EA to Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project. Photo: courtesy of outgunned21/Freeimages.com.
Under the Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project, New Jersey Resources will convert 80km or so of an existing 135km long pipeline from oil to natural gas.
The FERC staff has ruled that the project will have no significant environmental impact, which has been recommended to be placed in the project’s FERC Certificate Order.
The modification of the pipeline will be carried out to its portions spread across the Delaware, Chester, Bucks, Montgomery and Northampton counties to enable transportation of natural gas. The remaining northern portion of the pipeline, which spans from western Bucks County to the Martins Creek terminal in Northampton County, has already been delivering natural gas since 1996.
The fully converted pipeline will deliver enough natural gas to meet the requirements of over 250,000 mid-Atlantic households each year.
The Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project will also see construction of compressor station facilities in West Rockhill Township and Lower Chichester Township along with nearly 7.5km of new laterals in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and New Castle County, Delaware.
Once placed into service, the pipeline project will supply natural gas in the Greater Philadelphia region. The additional supply is expected to benefit consumers in Philadelphia by means of energy market savings, thereby resulting economic benefits of nearly $677m over the first 15 years of the project’s operations.
New Jersey Resources president and chief operating officer Steve Westhoven said: “Adelphia Gateway is an important project that will deliver clean, low cost natural gas to constrained markets in the Greater Philadelphia region.
“We are pleased FERC Staff issued the Environmental Assessment and confirmed the project will have no significant environmental impact as it converts an existing pipeline to natural gas. We look forward to continuing to work with regulators and local communities to place Adelphia Gateway into service.”
New Jersey Resources expects to commission the Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project in 2019 subject to receipt of a FERC Certificate Order and all other required regulatory approvals.