Tuesday, March 25, 2008

New Gas for NYC/LI Ready Without Broadwater

While everyone was paying attention last week to federal approval for the Broadwater Liquid Natural Gas terminal, news about guaranteed expansion of natural gas supply to our region went unnoticed.

The same federal agency that approved Broadwater also gave a green light to the Iroquois Pipeline company to expand its capacity and deliver 50 percent more natural gas--that's right, 50 percent--to Keyspan for Long Island, and Con Edison for the city.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (known lovingly as FERC) told Iroquois it could go ahead and increase pipeline capacity so that it could add 200 million cubic feet a day to Keyspan's system and 100 million to Con Edison's. This was confirmed to me by Ruth Parkins, spokesperson for Iroquois. Delivery will start November 1 for most of it, with the rest phased in by November 1, 2009.

That's 30 percent of what Broadwater says it will deliver to the 1,200-foot-long, 200-foot-wide terminal it proposes to plant in Long Island Sound, IF it can get the supply. The federal Energy Information Administration's energy outlook for 2008 says supplies of LNG will be so tight in years to come that the terminals already existing or under construction, not including Broadwater, will run at under 50 percent capacity. (See previous post on Broadwater.)

The Iroquois expansion does nothing to disrupt the environment, boating, etc., etc., and expanding pipelines is exactly the remedy for expanding energy supplies supported by Connecticut's attorney general, governor and lawmakers.

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