The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will probably give preliminary approval today to a massive new natural gas pipeline that would run between New Jersey and New York City.

Shortly before 9 a.m. this morning, FERC issued a notice saying that the draft Environmental Impact Statement evaluating the project, to be built by Spectra Energy, has been completed and will be made publicly available today. However, the document has not yet been posted to the agency’s website.

A spokesperson for FERC told NaturalGasWatch.org that the actual document usually is posted on the same day the notice of availability goes up on the agency’s website.

That said, from the preliminary notice,  it looks as if the project will get a thumbs-up from FERC.

From the FERC Notice of Availability:

The draft EIS assesses the potential environmental effects of the construction and operation of the NJ-NY Project in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).  The FERC staff concludes that approval of the proposed Project would have some adverse environmental impact; however, these impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of Texas Eastern’s and Algonquin’s proposed mitigation and the additional measures we recommend in the draft EIS.

The route of the new natural gas pipeline that will run between New Jersey and New York City.

The proposed Spectra project would create almost 20 miles of new and replacement 42- and 30-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline, six new metering and regulating stations, the modification of four existing compressor stations.