Pennsylvania PUC denies application to change direction of petroleum pipeline transportation

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) denied last week an application filed by Laurel Pipeline Company L.P. (Laurel) to reverse the direction of petroleum products transportation service to delivery points in western and southwestern Pennsylvania.

The Commission voted 5-0 to adopt the Recommended Decision, with limited modifications, that Administrative Law Judge Eranda Vero issued on March 29.

The commissioners determined that Laurel’s application was a request for partial abandonment of intrastate public utility service along the Altoona-Pittsburgh portion of its pipeline and that Laurel had failed to satisfy its burden regarding the abandonment.

The decision is the result of approximately two years of investigation and litigation over the application, which Laurel submitted on Nov. 14, 2016.

In their application, Laurel proposed reversing the flow on the part of the Western Pennsylvania portion of its pipeline system to move petroleum products eastward toward the Altoona area to transport petroleum products from Midwestern refineries to destinations in Western and Central Pennsylvania.

Laurel currently transports petroleum products from east to west from points of origin near Philadelphia to destinations across Pennsylvania, terminating west of Pittsburgh where it connects to pipelines originating from refineries located in the Midwest. A portion of the capacity of the pipeline also transports petroleum products from New Jersey and Delaware to destinations in Pennsylvania.