Federal regulators approved construction of Columbia Gas Transmission’s (Columbia) line MB extension natural gas system modernization project in Baltimore County and Harford County, Maryland. The certificate of public convenience and necessity, issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, instructs Columbia to move forward with the 21.3-mile pipeline and begin construction in 2014. The project is designed to improve interstate natural gas service reliability for local utilities that serve residents and businesses in Central Maryland and surrounding regions. It is also designed to reduce system vulnerability to pipeline outages and to better facilitate pipeline safety inspections without disrupting natural gas service. Construction is expected to begin in 2014, and it is scheduled to be completed in 2015.
