Page 6 - NorthAmOil Week 28 2022

NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil

Court upholds Nexus

pipeline approval

US THE US Court of Appeals for the District of capacity to re-import the gas into New York and
Columbia (DC) Circuit last week upheld the Fed- New England after it has transited Canada.
eral Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) The Nexus pipeline is operated by Enbridge,
approval of the already operational Nexus Gas which built it in a 50:50 partnership with DT
Transmission pipeline. The pipeline carries gas Midstream, and covers a distance of 256 miles
from Appalachia to the Midwest, from where it (412 km), with a capacity of 1.5bn cubic feet
is exported to Canada. (42.5mn cubic metres) per day. The pipeline
A challenge against the approval had been entered service in 2018 but the City of Oberlin
filed by the City of Oberlin, Ohio, but the court has continued its efforts to challenge its approval
found that the FERC had acted appropriately in the courts. This is part of a growing trend of
when it approved the project. This comes after challenges against pipelines that continue even
the city tried to argue in part that the regulator after those pipelines have become operational.
should not have considered demand for gas Thus far, though, efforts to shut down exist-
bound for export when assessing the public need ing oil and gas pipelines in the US have been
for the project. largely unsuccessful, though some fights remain
However, the court disagreed, ruling that it ongoing.
was reasonable for the FERC to deem gas being Meanwhile, ClearView Energy Partners
exported to a free-trade country such as Canada has commented that the DC Circuit’s ruling
to be in the public interest. It also agreed with the on Nexus might influence the FERC’s deci-
regulator that building additional capacity for sion-making on future interstate gas pipeline
export to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada has projects for which export demand would be a
domestic benefits, including by creating more consideration.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 28 15•July•2022