LNG projects: FERC authorizes Jordan Cove (Coos Bay, OR), reaffirms AES Sparrows Point

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today authorized a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and related pipeline proposed by Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P. and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline, LP.
Separately today, FERC reaffirmed its Jan. 15, 2009, order authorizing the AES Sparrows Point LNG LLC (AES) import terminal near Dundalk in Baltimore County, Md., and the related Mid-Atlantic LLC (Mid-Atlantic) pipeline project The Jordan Cove LNG import terminal would be located in the North Spit of Coos Bay in Coos County, Oregon, and would provide up to 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day (Bcf/d) to customers in the Pacific Northwest through interconnections with several existing pipeline systems.
The 234-mile Pacific Connector pipeline would transport the gas from the terminal to a point near Malin, Klamath County, Oregon, on the Oregon/California border. The AES terminal would send out gas at a rate of up to 1.5 Bcf/d, which would be transported through the 88-mile Mid-Atlantic pipeline to Eagle, Pa., where the new pipeline would interconnect with several existing interstate pipelines serving customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The Commission denied late motions to intervene, requests for a supplemental environmental impact statement and requests for stay because the petitioners raised no new specific issues or facts that had not already been addressed in the previous orders or in FERC staff’s environmental analyses. The Commission votes on both projects were 3-1. Chairman Wellinghoff dissented on both votes.