Chickahominy Pipeline Will ‘Press Pause' On Project Crossing Five Central Virginia Counties

By Sarah Vogelsong, Virginia Mercury

February 14, 2022

Chickahominy Pipeline says it will “press pause” on the development of a pipeline through five Central Virginia counties to supply a planned natural gas power plant in Charles City County known as Chickahominy Power.

Beth Minear, a spokesperson for Chickahominy Pipeline, confirmed Monday that Chickahominy Pipeline had notified all five counties of the change in plans.

The company attributed the halt to a decision by the regional electric grid manager, PJM, to remove the 1,600 megawatt natural gas Chickahominy Power from its planning queue because of its failure to meet development deadlines.

In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, PJM said it had canceled its interconnection service agreement — a plan for how new electric generation will be incorporated into the broader grid — “because Chickahominy failed to meet its milestones,” including one requiring that 20 percent of the site construction be completed by November 2021.

Furthermore, PJM said it had rejected the company’s request to extend those milestones “because Chickahominy has demonstrated no diligence or meaningful progress on the Chickahominy Project since entering the queue in October 2016.”

On Friday, FERC upheld PJM’s decision, finding that it had been reasonable and that “in light of the continued regulatory uncertainty facing the project, Chickahominy’s proposed project development timeline appears speculative at this juncture.”

In its communication to the five affected counties of Louisa, Henrico, Hanover, New Kent and Charles City, Chickahominy Pipeline said that “in light of this regulatory set-back as well as the uncertainty remaining with the [State Corporation Commission], Chickahominy Pipeline needs to press ‘pause’ on its pipeline efforts until its sole end-user, Chickahominy Power, is in a position to move forward.”

This December, against the arguments of the pipeline, the SCC determined that Chickahominy Pipeline should under state law be considered a public utility, a designation that would make it subject to state oversight.

In the same letter, the developers said Chickahominy Power would be evaluating its next steps.

Both Chickahominy Power and Chickahominy Pipeline have been controversial, with opponents arguing that new natural gas infrastructure is not needed given Virginia’s clean energy goals.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit Virginia Mercury.com.