The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) late Friday reinstated a certificate that allows Williams Companies Inc. to continue the expansion of its interstate natural gas transmission pipeline known as Transco, which transports natural gas to millions of customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and New York.
The Transco facilities were at risk of being taken out of service, but the FERC certificate allows for the continued delivery of critical energy to millions of Americans.
“Williams appreciates FERC’s swift action at a time when natural gas infrastructure is being called on to reliably deliver at record volumes,” said Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer of Williams, on Monday. “The recent bitter cold conditions across the Northeast are an important reminder of the vital role transmission pipelines play in delivering the natural gas necessary to keep millions of Americans warm, safe, and secure.”
The proposed Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REA) project will extend across three Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regions: three counties in the northeast region (Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton), three counties in the southeast region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware), and one county in the south central region (York).
Williams, a natural gas processing and transportation company based in Tulsa, Okla., said the REA project provides access to gas supplies, easing supply constraints and delivering reliable service to customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland, with the capacity to provide enough natural gas to serve approximately 4.4 million homes annually.
The company said Jan. 27 that FERC’s “Order on Remand Reinstating Certificate and Abandonment Authorization” to Transco for the REA project reinstates the certificate for REA as issued in its original certificate order, and takes effect immediately upon the issuance of the mandate by the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2024, the D.C. Circuit vacated the project’s FERC certificate, and the pipeline sought FERC approval to continue operations. The American Gas Association (AGA) filed multiple pleadings with the court and at FERC in support of the project, emphasizing that the pipeline would provide vital increased supply and added reliability to the Northeast region.
Without FERC’s action to reinstate the certificate, the facilities would have been taken out of service on Jan. 28, according to AGA, which said such a result could have required a reduction in service during the winter heating season and endangered customers.
AGA also pointed out that this situation highlights the need for infrastructure permitting reform to ensure natural gas projects that enhance energy reliability and resiliency receive timely reviews, especially during freezing winter conditions affecting millions of Americans.
Recently, natural gas volumes on Transco have surged due to frigid temperatures, in addition to normal demand in the power and industrial sectors. This led Transco to achieve another all-time peak day on Jan. 23, according to Williams.
“As our country continues to face sweeping cold temperatures and intense demand for natural gas, this decisive step by FERC was undeniably necessary,” Matthew Agen, AGA’s chief regulatory counsel for energy, said in a statement Monday. “We commend this important and unanimous decision that will keep these facilities in service and allow for the continued delivery of natural gas to the families and businesses that rely on it every day.”
The REA project is an expansion of Transco’s existing natural gas transmission system that will enable Transco to provide an incremental 829,400 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of year-round firm transportation capacity from the Marcellus Shale production area in northeastern Pennsylvania to multiple delivery points along Transco’s Leidy Line in Pennsylvania, as well as Transco’s mainline at the Station 210 Zone 6 Pooling Point1 in Mercer County, N.J., and multiple delivery points in Transco’s Zone 6 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
The project consists of new pipelines, a new gas-fired turbine driven compressor station, addition of gas-fired turbine driven compressor units at existing compressor stations, modification and uprate of existing compressors, abandonment of existing gas-fired compressors, modifications to existing compressor stations, modifications to existing pipeline tie-ins, addition of regulation controls at an existing valve setting, and modifications to existing regulators, according to the Pennsylvania DEP.