Columbia Gulf Transmission is asking federal regulators to sign off on a new 8.68-mile natural gas pipeline that would run through Estill and Clark counties in Kentucky, delivering fuel to an existing power plant operated by East Kentucky Power Cooperative. The proposed Clark Project carries an estimated price tag of about $95.2 million and would be built as a greenfield lateral with a 30-inch-diameter pipe.
According to Pipeline and Gas Journal, Columbia Gulf applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval of the project, and the pipeline would serve East Kentucky Power Cooperative's existing J.K. Smith power plant. The lateral is designed to carry about 250,000 dekatherms per day of firm transportation service to the cooperative, the outlet reports.
East Kentucky Power Cooperative operates J.K. Smith Station in Trapp, near Winchester, according to East Kentucky Power Cooperative. The co-op says it generates power there using combustion turbines fueled by natural gas or fuel oil, the same source notes.
Filing Details and Regulatory Timeline
Per the trade publication's reporting, Columbia Gulf filed its application under Section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act on October 20, and FERC issued a notice of the application on November 3. The project would include an aboveground tie-in to Columbia Gulf's existing mainline with a new launcher/receiver assembly, along with a separate aboveground meter station that has its own launcher/receiver assembly, the outlet's reporting indicates.
Columbia Gulf has proposed applying its existing FTS-1 base system recourse reservation and commodity rates to the new service, the publication reports. The company also asked FERC for a predetermination that would allow the project's costs to be rolled into its system rates, according to the same account.
Environmental Review and Public Comment Window
The project would require a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certificate from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet's Department of Environmental Protection, the trade publication notes. FERC staff are expected to complete an environmental review or issue a schedule for one within 90 days of the November 3 notice, per the same reporting.
Motions to intervene, along with protests and comments on the application, are due by 5 p.m. Eastern time on November 24, according to the outlet's account of the FERC notice. That gives landowners, local governments, and other interested parties a roughly three-week window to weigh in before the regulatory clock on environmental review runs further.
Columbia Gulf has pursued other pipeline expansions across Kentucky in recent months. A separate Federal Register notice describes the company's Maysville Project, which involves 42 miles of 30-inch-diameter pipeline in Rowan, Fleming, and Mason counties with a tie-in to the existing Columbia Gulf mainline in Rowan County. Another Federal Register filing outlines the company's Pulaski Project, proposing 41.3 miles of new 30-inch pipeline running from Lincoln County to a new delivery meter station in Pulaski County. Those projects are separate filings and do not establish details about the Clark Project itself.
