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Jim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)
[Editor’s Note: The Adelphia Gateway Pipeline project to convert an oil pipeline to gas has received FERC permission to complete construction. About time!]
New Jersey Resources’ Adelphia Gateway project is a plan to convert an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, Pennsylvania through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, into a natural gas pipeline. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued final approval for the project in December 2019. Thank God FERC approved the project during the Trump administration or it never would have happened. Given FERC’s prior approval, FERC functionaries (not the commissioners themselves) have just given permission for the project to begin construction on the final pieces.
Adelphia Gateway, like all natural gas pipeline projects these days, has had its share of opposition. In particular, West Rockhill Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia) waged a legal battle to prevent a natural gas compressor station from being built as part of the project. In October 2019 they lost that battle.
The Adelphia Gateway project converts 50 miles of an existing 84-mile pipeline from oil to natural gas. The northern 34 miles of the pipeline were previously converted to deliver natural gas in 1996. Now the final pieces of the project will begin construction and conversion. The pipeline and most of the connections to it will be in-service by the end of this year.
On May 26, 2021, Adelphia Gateway, LLC received a Notice to Proceed with construction of the second phase of the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The project continues to work closely with local stakeholders and governments as activity gets underway. Adelphia Gateway and its contractors will conduct additional outreach to inform residents and businesses of construction activities in their areas.
Phase 2 construction includes the Tilghman Lateral installation from the interconnect at the Transco Meter Station to its terminus in Chester city, the Parkway Lateral, the Delmarva Meter Station, the Monroe Meter Station and the Tilghman Meter Station – all located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
“We are pleased to move into the final phase of construction on the Adelphia Gateway project, and we appreciate the collaboration with FERC, state agencies, municipalities and the community during this process,” said Ginger Richman, president of Adelphia Gateway. “We look forward to meeting the demand for this much-needed resource of natural gas to the Philadelphia region.”
The Adelphia Gateway project involves the conversion of the southern 50 miles of its existing 84-mile pipeline from oil to natural gas supply to constrained markets in southeastern Pennsylvania. This section of the pipeline is located in Delaware, Chester, Bucks and Montgomery counties. The northern 34 miles of the pipeline, which extend from western Bucks County to the Martins Creek terminal in Northampton County, have delivered natural gas since 1996.
In 2019, FERC issued the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and completed a thorough environmental assessment of the Adelphia Gateway project. That was followed by the Partial Notice to Proceed for Phase I construction in October 2020.
Adelphia Gateway expects a number of facilities along the southern portion of the Adelphia Gateway pipeline to be placed into service this year to serve customers in the Greater Philadelphia area.
A map of the project can be found here and a copy of the FERC permission to Adelphia to begin construction on Phase II is available here.
Editor’s Note: It’s nice to now the Delaware PovertyKeeper fought this one and lost. The PovertyKeeper claimed to be “particularly troubled by the project’s impacts on the recreational, aesthetic, and commercial interests of DRN’s members” especially “regarding the project’s greenhouse gas emissions and climate change effects.” How sweet it is these garbage comments from this gentry class shill went nowhere this time.
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This post appeared first on Natural Gas Now.