ALBANY, NY — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a rehearing on FERC’s decision to overrule the DEC on the granting of a Water Quality Certification (WQC).

FERC ruled that because DEC waited much longer than a year from when they first received the application for the application for the WQC from Millennium Pipeline Company, DEC has lost the authority to deny the WQC.

In the rehearing request, DEC argues that FERC “erred in finding that the one-year time frame in which the Department must act on an application for WQC commences as of receipt of an application, regardless of the completeness of such application.”   

DEC argues that Millennium’s application was not complete until August 31, 2016, and it denied the permit on August 21 of this year. 

The DEC cited several precedents from Federal Courts of Appeals to support its position including the following: “The Department’s interpretation of the waiver period is consistent with the interpretation adopted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [in the case AES Sparrows Point LNG, LLC, et al. v. Wilson, et al] USACE’s regulations provide that ‘[i]n determining whether or not a waiver period has commenced or a waiver has occurred, the district engineer will verify that the certifying agency has received a valid request for certification.”

The WQC is for the Lateral Valley Project, which is about 7.9 miles of pipeline that is meant to carry natural gas from Millennium’s main pipeline, which runs through Sullivan and Orange counties, to the Competitive Power Ventures 650 megawatt power plant under construction in Wawayanda. The power plant is one reason Millennium is seeking a new compressor station in the Town of Highland.

The DEC said part of the reason it moved to deny approval is because of the insufficient environmental review of the project; DEC said FERC should have considered the impacts of the pipeline on climate change.