Williams Partners restarts pipeline construction

TULSA — Williams Partners LP crews have restarted construction on the company’s Atlantic Sunrise pipeline after a judge denied an emergency motion to stop the effort.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., on Monday issued an administrative stay, temporarily halting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authorization of the project. The court late Wednesday lifted the stay and allowed construction to continue.

“We are pleased that the court has lifted the administrative stay of construction activities and denied the emergency motion for stay filed by the project opponents,” Michael Dunn, Williams Partners’ chief operating officer, said in a statement. “We will promptly resume construction activities on this important pipeline project, which will leverage existing energy infrastructure to deliver economic growth and help millions of Americans gain access to affordable Pennsylvania-produced cleanburning natural gas.”

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, 186mile 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 mid2018.

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