Williams Partners LP seeks clarification on pipeline delay

TULSA — Williams Partners LP on Tuesday asked a U.S. Court of Appeals for clarification after the court this week blocked its pipeline construction plans.

Williams Partners filed the motion for clarification with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., where the court on Monday issued an administrative stay, halting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authorization of Williams Partners’ Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline project.

The court issued the stay to consider an emergency motion filed last week by project opponents seeking to extend the pipeline permitting process.

“Atlantic Sunrise has undergone a nearly four-year, extensive review process and is operating and being constructed in compliance with all state and federal permits,” said Micheal Dunn, Williams Partners’ chief operating officer. “These current actions by opponents of American energy are, this morning, idling thousands of workers in Pennsylvania and could delay the benefits of low-cost energy delivery to millions of American families.”

A coalition of groups, including the Sierra Club and Lancaster Against Pipelines, asked for the stay, arguing that FERC regulators “overstated the pipeline’s economic benefits while discounting or ignoring its true costs.”

The $3 billion, 186-mile expansion to Williams Partners’ Transco natural gas pipeline is designed to connect Marcellus natural gas in the Pennsylvania area to markets in the midAtlantic and southeastern United States. The project is designed to increase natural gas deliveries by 1.7 billion cubic feet per day and is scheduled to be placed into full service in mid-2018.

Construction began last month, and the project is scheduled to be online by mid-2018.

“We have worked with countless elected officials, regulators, environmental consultants and landowners to bring this vital U.S. energy project to construction, and a vast majority of stakeholders understand how critical these types of projects are to economic growth, jobs and manufacturing expansion in addition to helping the U.S. transition away from the use of higher carbon fuels,” Dunn said.