From an Article by Ad Crable, Lancaster PA Online, March 23, 2016

A decision on the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline project through Lancaster County in Pennsylvania has been delayed and may not happen until January of 2017.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision — on whether to allow the project or not — isn’t expected until between October 21, 2016 and January 19, 2017 the agency says.

That’s later than the project’s builder, Williams Partners, had hoped for the $3 billion, 198-mile project. The pipeline will transport gas fracked in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania to markets along the Atlantic Coast and abroad.

In Lancaster County, where the project has faced bitter opposition in some areas, the pipeline would cross 36.5 miles in a 50-foot-wide swath. It passes through mostly farms and forest land.

County residents and groups have submitted more than 1,000 letters to the commission. So far, some 60 changes have been made to the pipeline’s route since it was announced in 2014.

Despite the delay, Williams officials on Tuesday reasserted their intent to pursue the project. They also are not deterred by the recent downturn in Marcellus Shale gas production. The company’s shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange was down about 67 percent Tuesday, from its one-year high of $59.44 last May.

“We are very much committed to the project,” said Chris Stockton, spokesman for Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams, which owns and operates the largest pipeline networks in the country.

“Projects like the Atlantic Sunrise are not developed based on short-term commodity prices, but instead take the long-term, bigger-picture view of the changing supply dynamic in the U.S.”

Stockton said the delay in a decision “reflects that FERC is conducting a very thorough analysis of the project.” He said binding agreements with nine companies that had committed to using the proposed pipeline are still intact.

As for the considerable decrease in rigs working the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania because of cheap prices for gas, Stockton said efficiencies in the industry mean the Marcellus play is still the largest in the country, even with fewer rigs.

“The biggest problem is the region doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure to connect Pennsylvania gas production with other consuming markets,” Stockton observed. That’s what the Atlantic Sunrise project is meant to correct, he said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it would release its Environmental Impact Statement on the Atlantic Sunrise project on October 21.

The commission said major issues posed by the pipeline that surfaced and will be addressed in the document include potential impacts on forested areas, groundwater and threatened species; socio-economic impacts; land use and recreational impacts; air quality; safety; potential cumulative impacts; and potential alternative routes.

The commission has said it would hold public meetings in certain communities after the release of the Environmental Impact Statement and before it issues a ruling.

Malinda Clatterbuck, a Martic Township resident and co-founder of the Martic Save Our Unspoiled Land grassroots citizens group that formed to oppose the gas pipeline, said the delay was an encouraging development.

Clatterbuck said the delay possibly indicates that issues raised by opponents “require research and investigation.” According to her, the delay may also be a sign of recognition that the county is a unique space “for prime agriculture that needs to be preserved and protected” and for “the strong cultural heritage of our farmers and the Amish communities that flourish here.”

With the county already having some of the “poorest air quality in the state,” Clatterbuck said, “it would not benefit from any more trees being felled for any reason.”

“We will keep writing letters and calling attention to our opposition to the line — the greatest being the clear exploitation of the land and our community rights, pushing private gain over the original and true definition of eminent domain — that is, for the good of the people,” she said.

Source: http://lancasteronline.com/content/tncms/live/