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2001 News Releases
Date: February 1, 2001
Duke
Energy, Williams Purchase Gulfstream Pipeline Project
from The Coastal Corporation
FERC issues final environmental impact statement prior
to closure
HOUSTON – Subsidiaries of Duke Energy
(NYSE:DUK) and Williams (NYSE:WMB) today closed the purchase of
Gulfstream Natural Gas System, L.L.C. from The Coastal Corporation.
Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
"By finalizing this acquisition,
we are one step closer to realizing the vision of bringing a new,
competitive natural gas pipeline into the state of Florida,"
said Cuba Wadlington Jr., president and CEO, Williams’ gas pipeline
group. "We intend to have Gulfstream ready to deliver cleaner
burning natural gas to Florida customers beginning in June 2002."
Prior to the closure, Gulfstream received
a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC). The FEIS is a comprehensive assessment
of the environmental impacts of the Gulfstream project by staffs
at FERC and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department
of the Interior. The FERC concluded that the construction and operation
of Gulfstream’s proposed facilities with the adoption of recommended
mitigation measures would have limited adverse environmental impacts.
Executives from both Duke Energy and
Williams said they are pleased with the extraordinary efforts by
FERC and MMS staffs to analyze the voluminous amounts of environmental
data in order to maintain the review schedule.
"The Gulfstream pipeline will
bring natural gas to help fuel the projected need for 10,000 megawatts
of new electric generation in Florida by 2007," said Robert
B. Evans, president of Duke Energy Gas Transmission. "We are
pleased to finalize this acquisition and are greatly encouraged
by the prompt issuance of a comprehensive FEIS. We encourage the
FERC to expeditiously complete their review and issue a final certificate,
so that construction of this much needed infrastructure can begin."
The project sponsors expect the $1.6 billion Gulfstream pipeline
project to receive FERC approval in first quarter 2001. The target
in-service date for the project is June 2002.
Gulfstream has precedent agreements
with various Florida utilities and power-generation facilities representing
long-term commitments for the majority of its 1.1 billion cubic
feet of natural gas per day capacity.
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