The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Wednesday there are no major environmental issues that will keep the proposed NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline from being built.

The decision, announced in FERC’s 541-page final environmental impact statement, clears a major bureaucratic hurdle for the project and all but assures construction will begin as planned in early 2017.

In its long-awaited report, the commission concluded the pipeline and associated projects will “result in some adverse environmental impacts.”

But the regulatory commission, which oversees interstate pipeline projects, said those impacts will “be reduced to acceptable levels with the implementation of NEXUS’s and Texas Eastern’s proposed mitigation measures and the additional measures recommended by staff in the final [report].”

The commission cited some 38 project-specific mitigation measures for the applicants in its report.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency helped with the document, FERC said.

Each of those agencies will present its own conclusions and recommendations, but FERC has jurisdiction over the project.

The NEXUS project alone consists of 256.6 miles of new, 36-inch pipeline laid to move natural gas fracked from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of southern and eastern Ohio to markets in the United States and southwestern Ontario, with 209.8 miles of the pipeline to be located in Ohio and 46.8 miles of it in Michigan, the commission said.

The pipeline is to be linked with another one, bringing the total to about 261.4 miles of new pipeline.

FERC listed partners as NEXUS Gas Transmission, Texas Eastern Transmission, DTE Gas Co., and Vector Pipeline as partners. NEXUS and Texas Eastern are subsidiaries of Houston-based Spectra Energy, while DTE Gas is affiliated with Detroit-based DTE Energy. Vector Pipeline, based in Livonia, Mich., owns a 348- mile-long natural gas pipeline between Joliet, Ill., near Chicago, and Ontario. It is a joint venture between Calgary- based Enbridge Inc., and DTE.

The project is to include five above-ground compressor stations, including one in Waterville Township, which has been opposed by numerous citizens and public officials.

Adam Parker, Spectra Energy spokesman, said the commission’s decision is “another timely, major project milestone that keeps NEXUS on track to receive its [construction] certificate in the first quarter of 2017.”

FERC evaluated 15 major route alternatives but found the one proposed by NEXUS acceptable, according to the company, which also said in a statement that it incorporated 239 route changes totaling 231 miles into its final route. 

The changes were made for a variety of reasons, including landowner requests, avoidance of sensitive areas, and engineering issues, the company said.

FERC also does not believe property values will go down because of the pipeline. It said 46 percent of the pipeline will be laid within or adjacent to existing rights-of-way where there are other pipelines or electric transmission line rights-of-way.

The regulatory commission believes the Waterville Township compressor station will not have any significant effect on air quality or noise levels.

Spectra said that NEXUS “will allow for the ongoing conversion from coal to clean-burning natural gas for electric generation which has been announced by a number of Midwest utilities.”

“It will also support projected economic growth in Ohio and Michigan,” the company said.

Peter Ternes, spokesman for DTE, said the utility is eager to see the pipeline completed for those reasons.

Local pipeline activist Paul Wohlfarth said the decision was expected, given the regulatory commission’s record for approving pipeline projects.

Mr. Wohlfarth said he believes the project will ultimately increase natural gas prices for Ohioans because of the high volume of product it will export to Canada.

“Where is the public need to give them eminent domain?” Mr. Wohlfarth asked.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.

First Published December 1, 2016, 5:00 a.m.