Federal regulators approve major Louisiana, Mississippi gas projects

(The Center Square) - Federal regulators have approved two major natural gas pipeline expansions in Mississippi and Louisiana, adding 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of delivery capacity that will supply Southeastern industrial customers and an LNG export dock in the New Orleans area.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week finalized the two orders, approving a 627 million cubic feet per day expansion of LNG exporter Venture Global’s Gator Express Pipeline, which feeds the company’s Plaquemines marine terminal in Louisiana, and greenlighting construction of the 1.175 billion cubic-feet-per-day Kosciusko Junction Project in Mississippi.

The Kosciusko Junction pipeline is designed to bring gas produced in Pennsylvania and Ohio – the Marcellus and Utica shale basins – to supply fast growing demand for power from Mississippi utilities and industrial customers in the Southeast.

Developed by midstream operator Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, the 111-mile expansion project runs across nine Mississippi counties and is backed by a 20-year agreement with regional utility Southern Company, which has contracted for two-thirds of the additional gas.

The order allows Vienna, Virginia-based Venture Global’s Gator Express Pipeline—which runs 26.8 miles within Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana—to increase deliveries by 627 million cubic-feet-per-day after the company showed improved engineering allowed it to increase gas flows without significant additional risk.

Protests were filed by environmental groups like Healthy Gulf, which is based in New Orleans, who argued that Venture Global should be stripped of "blanket certificate" fast-track status and processed as a full, separate application under the Natural Gas Act. Because Venture Global proved the increase came through improved engineering with no physical modification of the pipeline, the federal regulator ruled that an extensive environmental review was unnecessary.

In a joint filing, Healthy Gulf and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade argued that allowing Venture Global to bypass standard regulatory reviews while increasing the Gator Express Pipeline’s capacity by 16% “may pose unexamined safety risks and potential increases in fugitive emissions."