Report Volume XXIII, Number 8, December 15th, 2011

INDUSTRY NEWS (Tulsa, OK) – The Bargath LLC pipeline company has proposed a 22-mile gas pipeline that would run from the Divide Creek area under the Colorado river to processing facilities near Parachute.

Bargath, also known as Williams Midstream, is being split off from Williams Production RMT in a deal that will take effect in early January, according to Williams spokeswoman Donna Gray.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments on the pipeline proposal, according to BLM spokesman Dave Boyd. Comments are due Jan. 20, 2012. The pipeline would cross 7.6 miles of BLM-managed lands, less than a mile of Forest Service land, and nearly 14 miles of private property.

“The pipeline would be bored under the Colorado River to avoid impacts to the riverbed, aquatic wildlife and the adjacent riparian ecosystem,” a BLM release said.

INDUSTRY NEWS (Binghamton, NY) – New York State Electric & Gas Corp. has made the application and documents related to its Seneca West Pipeline Interconnect project available for public review.

The project calls for the construction of a 5-mile natural gas pipeline from the Seneca Lake Gas Storage Facility West Pipeline near Upson Road in Big Flats through the Town of Horseheads to Gardner Road in the Village of Horseheads. NYSEG also plans to build a metering station at the point where the proposed pipeline will connect with the Seneca West Pipeline and a regulator station where the new pipeline will connect with NYSEG’s Elmira-area natural gas distribution system.

Approximately 3.9 miles of the new pipeline will parallel Millennium Pipeline Co.’s existing pipeline. The remaining span of approximately 1.1 miles will be built on a NYSEG electric transmission line right of way.

INDUSTRY NEWS (Houston, TX) – (Spectra Energy) Key permits have been approved for the building of a 16-mile natural gas pipeline across portions of northern New Jersey and into New York City, state environmental officials recently announced.

A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said flood hazard, waterfront development and fresh water wetlands permits have been issued for the proposed pipeline, which would run from Staten Island through parts of Linden, Bayonne, Jersey City and offshore in Hoboken into Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood.

It still requires approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said in a statement the permits were issued after Spectra Energy Corp., which is building the pipeline, complied with his agency’s demands for environmental improvements on the original proposal. The revised plan reduces wetlands disturbances, changes the pipeline route to avoid contaminated sites, and places the gas line far below the surface to minimize neighborhood construction disruptions, Martin said.

Spectra, which did not return a call seeking comment Friday, has also agreed to use thicker steel, electronic monitoring of the pipeline to allow shutoffs within 90 seconds, year-round security patrols, high-tech pipe inspections and a reduction in pressure in the pipeline as it runs through the heavily populated neighborhoods of Jersey City.

Supporters of the pipeline, which will have a capacity to carry 800 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, say it will boost the metropolitan area’s use of natural gas and cut down on pollution from other heating sources like fuel oil. New Jersey’s DEP said the project will create jobs, moderate energy costs for consumers, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 6 million tons annually compared to oil — the equivalent of taking one million cars off the road.

Opponents cite safety and environmental concerns, and the fact that most of the infrastructure will be located in New Jersey while the majority of the energy will be used in New York City. Residents and local officials in cities where the pipeline will be located also wonder about the impact it could have on property values along some of New Jersey’s most valuable real estate — the so-called “Gold Coast” — a ribbon of northern New Jersey waterfront real estate in Jersey City, Hoboken and Bayonne that looks out across the Hudson River toward the Manhattan skyline.

“The benefit flows to our good friends on the other side of the Hudson, while the risks will be borne by us in Jersey City,” said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy. “It’s the final insult of New York to New Jersey.”

Healy said Jersey City residents would continue to fight the plan, and that he was drafting a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to get involved.

A spokesman for the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club said the organization planned to fight the permits in court.

Spectra’s proposal involves an expansion of the Texas Eastern Transmission and Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline. The gas will go mostly to Consolidated Edison Inc., which serves about 1 million naturalgas customers in the New York metropolitan area.

The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2013. Spectra, which has headquarters in Houston, has not disclosed how much the project will cost.

The natural gas will come from the Marcellus Shale, a vast formation of energy-rich rock that runs through several states.