FERC Issues Favorable Final EIS for PennEast Pipeline Project
On Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally, after delaying a decision three times adding an extra eight months, issued a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the PennEast Pipeline project. We should add, it was a favorable EIS. While FERC found (as they always do) that there would be “some adverse environmental impacts” from the project, those impacts “would be reduced to less than significant levels” with PennEast’s proposed construction plans. This is a major milestone and all but assures the project will now go forward and will be built and go into service sometime in 2018. What potential roadblocks remain? For one, PennEast will need water crossing permits from New Jersey, which they filed for last week (see PennEast Files for Water Crossing Permits in NJ – Antis All Atwitter). Although there are a number of kook antis in NJ opposed to the project, Gov. Chris Christie is still in charge and the state Department of Environmental Protection is an executive branch agency. That is, they’ll approve the project. The only remaining wildcard is the recalcitrant Delaware River Basin Commission. The DRBC has proven itself to be politically motivated (leaning far left) and no friend of the oil and gas industry. Could the DRBC stop PennEast? Doubt it, but they might be able to slow it down. Below we have the good news about FERC’s approval, a copy of that approval (485 pages!), and some of the predictable anti-drilling claptrap responding to the approval…
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On Feb. 3, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a long-delayed project–National Fuel Gas Company’s (NFG) Northern Access 2016 pipeline project (see 
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Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events.