Williams Cos. 322 km, $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline project has been approved by officials at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.

The decision will allow Williams to proceed with construction on the main portion of the project in mid-2017, establishing a path for more gas to flow to markets along the Eastern Seaboard in time for the 2017-2018 winter heating season.

Williams is among the U.S. pipeline developers proposing massive expansions of America’s gas pipeline system to accommodate supplies flowing out of the Marcellus and Utica shale basins in the eastern U.S. Production there has outpaced the capacity to deliver the fuel to markets.

At the same time environmental groups with a strong antipathy toward new pipeline undertakings are growing in number. These groups will appeal the FERC decision.