Elko Daily Free Press 6-3-10

El Paso hopes to start Ruby Pipeline in late June

ELKO - El Paso Corp. expects to begin construction of the Ruby Pipeline in late June or early July, despite the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision this week to allow extra time to study rehearing requests.

"We anticipate no delay as a result of this tolling order. It's basically a standard approach that FERC uses," El Paso spokesman Richard Wheatley said Thursday.

He also said the company still expects to put the 675-mile pipeline into service in March 2011 to bring natural gas from Wyoming to Oregon, although the U.S. Bureau of Land Management still hasn't granted rights-of-way for the project.

FERC received requests for rehearing on the order the commission issued in early April approving the $3 billion Ruby Pipeline Project once the BLM approved it. BLM approval is pending state historic preservation approvals and a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wheatley said Utah and Wyoming historical preservation agencies have completed their agreements for the pipeline, but the state preservation offices in Nevada and Oregon haven't signed agreements yet.

"We anticipate FERC will be sending draft agreements to those two states," Wheatley said.

He also said Wednesday he expected the biological opinion this week.

FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said Thursday the commission issued the tolling, or procedural order, Wednesday because FERC "needed more time to review the petitions for rehearing before taking action."

Without the order, the requests for rehearing would have expired, she said.

FERC can decide to reject the requests, hold a hearing, reaffirm the order approving the project or modify the order, Young-Allen said.

FERC received requests for a rehearing on FERC's Ruby Pipeline approval order from the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, Defenders of Wildlife, the Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

Their requests raised concerns that FERC didn't adequately consider alternative routes for the pipeline, failed to describe site specific mitigation for impact to sage grouse and failed to adequately analyze the cumulative impacts of the project on endangered species.

They also questioned FERC's action in issuing the approval order for the project before obtaining the state historic preservation reports on impacts to cultural sites along the project route.

Mark Mackiewicz, project manager for the BLM, told The Associated Press in late May that the agency can approve the project once the Fish and Wildlife and preservation approvals are completed.

He said that may happen in July, but Wheatley said the BLM approval may come sooner.

"We're still optimist we will have the BLM decision around mid-June," Wheatley said in a telephone interview. "We think we can beat the BLM estimate by working diligently with FERC and the state preservation offices. We remain optimistic we can start construction in late June or early July."

Once FERC issues an order approving construction, Houston-based El Paso is ready to begin work, after stocking pipe at sites that include the Northeastern Nevada Regional Railport in Elko County.

Wheatley said FERC issued partial orders that allowed for staging facilities.

"Once we get the project notice to proceed, we can start very promptly," he said.

The pipeline would have the capacity for up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and could be expanded to 2 billion cubic feet with increased demand.

The pipeline project will create more than 5,000 construction jobs.

Wheatley said El Paso also expects to provide up to six permanent jobs for each of the four compressor stations, including one in the Elko area, and he said an area manager for the pipeline will be based in Elko.