Williams Partners L.P. will have to wait six months to learn whether federal regulators will approve its proposed 3.17-mile natural-gas pipeline project off the coast of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. Williams had planned to start work on the $182-million Rockaway Delivery Lateral Project this month. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in August that it would complete the project's final environmental impact statement on Feb. 28, 2014, with a 90-day authorization decision deadline slated for May 29.
Williams had anticipated already starting work on the meter and regulator stations of the planned project, which will connect with its existing Transco pipeline. The project involves building a 26-in.-dia lateral pipeline about 2.9 miles off the coast and 0.3 miles onshore, under Jacob Riis Park to Floyd Bennett Field in Queens. Using conventional marine lay and trenching methods, it includes building the stations inside one of the Floyd Bennett Field hangar buildings.