Dominion files ACP pre-filing request with FERC

Dominion, on behalf of its joint venture partners in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, submitted a request to begin the pre-filing process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The company is asking the commission to begin its environmental review of the proposed $4.5 billion to $5 billion, 550-mile natural gas pipeline.

Four major U.S. energy companies, Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources, plan to build and own the pipeline, which would run from Harrison County, West Virginia, southeast through Virginia with an extension to Chesapeake, Virginia, and then south through eastern North Carolina to Robeson County. The pipeline would help meet the growing clean energy needs of Virginia and North Carolina by providing direct access to the burgeoning natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shale basins of West Virginia,Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The project will need the approvals of 40 federal, state and local regulatory agencies before construction can begin.

In the pre-filing request to the FERC, Dominion noted it has begun a wide-ranging outreach and education program for stakeholders. So far, the program has included 13 informational open houses along the route attended by more than 3,600 people. Additional open houses will be scheduled for January 2015, followed by FERC-led scoping meetings shortly thereafter.

Informational packets also will be mailed to about 5,500 property owners along the proposed pipeline route and within a half-mile of potential compressor station locations.

Dominion is surveying to determine the best route, one that meets operational and reliability needs while minimizing the impact on the environment as well as historical and cultural resources.

The company expects to file its FERC application next summer, receive the FERC Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in the summer of 2016 and begin construction shortly thereafter. The pipeline is expected to be in service by late 2018.

The main pipeline would have a 42-inch diameter in West Virginia and Virginia, reducing to 36 inches in diameter in North Carolina. Virginia and North Carolina have limited access to supplies from the Marcellus and Utica shales and have a need for increased infrastructure to support growing demand for natural gas-fired generation, and to add supply diversity for reliability and price stability.

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Press Release; Image: Atlantic Coast Pipeline