As MDN predicted, yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the NEXUS Pipeline project (see FERC Expected to Approve NEXUS Today; Surveyors have Armed Guards). More precisely, FERC issued a positive Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). These projects are complex and the final Certificate is yet to be granted that allows Spectra Energy to begin digging–but that Certificate is now just a formality. The big nut to crack was the FEIS. With that now granted (executive summary of FEIS below), the final Certificate is on track to be issued in the first quarter of 2017. That is, NEXUS is on track, on time, and WILL get built despite the objections of anti-fossil fuelers. The NEXUS Pipeline is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. It is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada. But FERC’s approval is not only great news for Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers, it’s also great news for Ohioans as there are numerous taps along the proposed route that will deliver plenty of cheap Utica gas to Ohio residents and businesses. And lest you believe the anti lie that FERC is nothing more than a rubber stamp for the pipeline industry, there are some 38 mitigation projects NEXUS will have to make when building the pipeline–projects that will come at great expense. FERC does it job and does it well, balancing the need for more energy with the impacts that infrastructure will have on landowners and the environment. Here’s the great news, along with some of the reaction…
