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Pipeline cancelled
By Gene
Morrell
Tuesday
February 06, 2007
Dominion has decided to abandon its
Greenbrier
pipeline project.
Bob Fulton, manager of media and community relations for Dominion
Transmission/ Dominion Hope, said, "Dominion has decided to cancel
the Greenbrier
project."
"Although there is a growing demand for clean-burning natural gas,
especially for power generation in the region, it has become obvious
that the market has not sufficiently developed to justify
construction," Fulton said.
"Dominion will concentrate its capital dollars on several projects
that are currently under construction [and] we have asked the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission to vacate the construction permit,"
Fulton said.
Dominion, owner of Greenbrier
Pipeline, LLC, proposed to build a new, 279-mile long natural gas
transmission system in West
Virginia, Virginia and North
Carolina that was capable of transporting up to 600,000
dekatherms per day to customers in North
Carolina and South
Carolina.
Along its route, the pipeline would have cut through portions of
Montgomery and Floyd counties. The pipeline project drew sustained
opposition from area landowners and others who cited what they saw as
potential environmental problems, lowering of land values and safety
hazards.
In July 2002, the company filed an application to construct and operate
the pipeline, two compressor stations and related facilities, and in
April 2003, FERC issued an order authorizing Greenbrier
Pipeline Company to construct the project and requiring that the
facilities be completed and made available for service by November 2005.
When FERC gave its go-ahead in April 2003 for the project, Dominion
officials said they planned to have the pipeline in service by November
2005.
In April 2004, Dominion filed a request with FERC for an extension of
time in which to construct the proposed natural gas pipeline.
FERC granted the request and gave Dominion until Nov. 1, 2007, to
construct the pipeline. FERC also granted Dominion's request to file its
construction plan no later than 90 days prior to commencement of the
project's construction.
Tamara Young-Allen, of FERC's Division of Press Services, said Dominion
filed a motion last week seeking the commission's authorization to
withdraw its certificate for the Greenbrier
pipeline project.
In a motion to vacate the certificate authorizing the pipeline project,
Anne E. Bomar, vice president, federal regulation, for Dominion
Resources Services, Inc., stated Greenbrier
Pipeline, LLC, "does not believe that current circumstances support
a request for further extension of the commission's authorization for
construction of the project."
"The project does not appear to be economically feasible at this
time," Bomar stated, "nor has Greenbrier
developed the necessary market commitments to support the filed project
as required by the commission's order." [Among other things, FERC's
April 2003 order conditioned Greenbrier's commencement of service on
submission of proof that it has entered into firm, long-term service
agreements for 90 percent of its transportation capacity.]
"In as much as Greenbrier
[Pipeline LLC] has not performed construction activities related to the
project and Greenbrier
has no present intention to construct the facilities within the period
contemplated by the commission's order, as amended, it is appropriate
that the certificate authorization issued [by FERC for the project] be
vacated," Bomar stated in her letter to FERC.
Young-Allen said there is no statutory timeframe during which the
commission must act on Dominion's request, "but it will do
expeditiously. In the past, the commission has approved motions to
vacate a certificate 'without prejudice' to the company filing later for
another proposal."
She said, "Dominion may file another request for the same pipeline
route, if and when they feel there is an economic reason to do so. There
is no 'waiting period' before submitting another filing." In the
event another request were to be filed at some time in the future, the
FERC staff would conduct an environmental review after the formal
application was submitted, and after the staff review was completed, the
commission would rule on the proposal, Young-Allen said.
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