Wild Goose Natural Gas Storage System

Application #96-08-058 
Project Manager: Bruce Kaneshiro, (415) 703-1187, e-mail: bsk@cpuc.ca.gov 

Project Description

The California Public Utilities Commission is considering a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the construction of natural gas storage facilities by Wild Goose Storage, Inc. (WGSI) in Butte County. See Figure 1 for a project vicinity map. WGSI provided the Commission with a Proponent's Environmental Assessment (PEA) that was available for public review along with this document from March 31 to April 29, 1997. WGSI also prepared a series of environmental surveys and mitigation implementation plans that accompanied the PEA and were also available for public review. Attachment A to this document is a collection of the comments on the draft of this document and responses to those comments.

The Administrative Law Judge?s Proposed Decision, which included this document as Appendix C, was mailed to parties in this proceeding for further comments. The comments of the parties (on the CEQA document) and the resulting changes to the Negative Declaration are discussed in Attachment B to this document.

Project Overview

Located in the southwest corner of Butte County, California, the Wild Goose Gas Storage Project involves development of a previously abandoned 137-billion-cubic-foot (Bcf) underground natural gas field for use in natural gas storage. The project Proponent is Wild Goose Storage, Inc. (WGSI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alberta Energy Company Ltd. Equipment and surface facilities required for natural gas storage are not extensive, requiring only a small amount of land to accommodate compressors, gas dehydration equipment and liquid handling systems. See Figure 2 for a project components map. As proposed, project development will require construction of:

  • an interconnect to the 12-inch-diameter Line 167 of Pacific Gas and Electric Company?s (PG&E?s) Sacramento Valley Gas Transmission System.
  • a 3-acre Remote Facility Site at West Liberty Road for metering, processing and compressing the gas.
  • approximately 4 miles of 18-inch-diameter gas pipeline and 2-inch-diameter bi-directional produced water pipeline between the Well Pad Site and the Remote Facility Site.
  • a 1.5-acre Well Pad Site at the location of the now-abandoned compression facility and well pad.

The Wild Goose Gas Storage Project is designed to move gas between PG&E?s existing gas pipeline system and the storage field. During periods of low natural gas demand, gas will be injected into the storage field and during periods of high demand, the gas will be withdrawn from the storage field and returned to PG&E?s pipeline system.

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