The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it had approved AES Corp.'s (AES) Sparrows Point liquefied-natural-gas import terminal in Baltimore County, Md., and a related plan for a pipeline connecting the project to a bigger system.

In a press release, FERC said it would impose 169 mitigation conditions on the project, based on recommendations by FERC's environmental staff. With these conditions, the project "would have mostly limited adverse environmental impacts," FERC said.

The LNG import terminal and pipeline would bring 1.5 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas to the northeastern U.S. The project includes facilities to unload LNG ships and store as much as 480,000 cubic meters of LNG. FERC said the facility could increase commercial shipping traffic in Chesapeake Bay by 5%-7%.

Maryland's Congressional delegation had on Tuesday requested that FERC hold off on voting on the proposed project until President-elect Barack Obama takes office, citing concerns over safety and threats to endangered wildlife.

-By Mark Long, Dow Jones Newswires; (201) 938-4427; mark.long@dowjones.com

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