Another Williams Cos. pipeline is facing a legal challenge. It is the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, described as the largest pipeline project in the East Coast in a decade.
Williams operates the Transco pipeline, an approximately 10,000-mile natural gas transportation system that extends from south Texas to New York City. The Transco pipeline is the nation’s largest-volume natural gas pipeline system, transporting about
one-third of the natural gas consumed in the United States.
In the latest challenge, a coalition of environmental groups has filed suit against the Army Corps of Engineers over a water permit the agency issued for the Southeast gas pipeline project. The groups want a federal appeals court to throw out the authorization.
The five groups are represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Mountain Advocates as they challenge a Section 404 water permit the Army Corps issued in February for the Southeast Supply Enhancement project (SSEP), which involves building 55 miles of new natural gas pipeline in parts of Virginia and North Carolina.
The pipeline was announced two years ago to run from Virginia to Alabama and moved up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of methane gas per day. But the environmental groups contend the Army Corp in approving the 404 permit for the project, “failed in its vital mission, threatening great harms to the waters and the communities that would be affected by this destructive project.”
So claimed David Sligh, director of the water quality program at Wild Virginia, in a statement released with the lawsuit Monday.
When the project was announced in 2024, it was immediately opposed by the Environmental Law center. It called the project “particularly alarming” for the region, saying the pipeline expansion would impact five of the region’s six states and “burden communities with more polluting infrastructure and land disturbance.”
Senior Attorney Greg Buppert stated at the time, “Natural gas–methane–isn’t some climate elixir. It’s just another dirty fossil fuel that pollutes communities and heats up the planet.” He further charged the pipeline would mean more polluting infrastructure that harms frontline communities and routinely leads to methane leaks and explosions.”
However, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signed off on the Williams pipeline project in January with construction set to begin in February of this year. Williams started work in Virginia and North Carolina. The project involves about 55 miles of 42-inch diameter and compressor station enhancements. The project is designed to expand the Transco natural gas system to serve Southeast markets by late 2027.
The Southeast Supply Enhancement Project would involve the construction of 31.2 miles of pipeline in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Rockingham County, North Carolina, as well as 24.2 miles of pipeline in Guilford, Forsyth, and Davidson Counties, North Carolina. The project would also involve compressor station modifications at four existing compressor stations in Virginia and North Carolina, and piping modifications at facilities in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. The project would expand Transco’s existing natural gas transmission system and provide an additional 1,597 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas.