In the Headlines

FERC Staff Gives Environmental Nod To Ga-Fla Gas Pipeline

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. – April 7, 2006

By Maya Jackson Randall, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staffers on Friday released a favorable environmental report on an El Paso Corp. (EP) unit's plans to expand a natural gas pipeline from Georgia to Florida.

The project is designed to support shipments of gas from the Elba Island liquefied natural gas terminal in Savannah, Ga.

In the final environmental impact statement, which members of the commission review in order to decide whether to approve the project, staffers concluded that the project would have only "limited adverse environmental impact."

El Paso's Southern Natural Gas Co., which owns the Elba Island LNG facility, filed a project application with FERC for the proposed Cypress Pipeline project in June.

The company's planned 176-mile pipeline expansion from Savannah, Ga., to Jacksonville, Fla., is estimated to cost $240 million. The project would enable Southern to ship up to 500 million cubic feet a day of natural gas in a three- phased expansion.