Federal agency gives green light to controversial PennEast Pipeline
Federal energy regulators on Friday approved a draft environmental impact statement for the hotly contested 118-mile PennEast Pipeline, which would deliver Marcellus Shale natural gas primarily to utilities in the Lehigh Valley and in New Jersey.
Federal energy regulators on Friday approved a draft environmental impact statement for the hotly contested 118-mile PennEast Pipeline, which would deliver Marcellus Shale natural gas primarily to utilities in the Lehigh Valley and in New Jersey.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that construction of the $1 billion pipeline would cause some adverse environmental impacts, but that "most of these impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of PennEast's proposed mitigation and the additional recommendations in the draft EIS."
Environmental groups, which have sued FERC for its pipeline oversight, denounced the 1,176-page environmental study as inadequate. They have asked regulators to weigh the entire process of natural gas extraction into its decision.
PennEast, which is sponsored by a subidiary of UGI Corp. of Valley Forge, called the report "a major step forward" and said it anticipates a final decision from FERC in 2017.
215-854-2947 @maykuth