Sunday, December 19, 1999
Mixed reactions to pipeline project
By Vicki Hunker
Staff Writer
After taking a few days to digest the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision to impose further restrictions on the proposed Independence Pipeline project, local pipeline opponents have mixed reactions to the news.
FERC voted Wednesday to suspend approval for pipeline construction until the pipeline company can prove there are buyers waiting to use the extra natural gas that the line would provide.
In addition, FERC imposed more than 100 conditions in response to massive organized opposition from landowners, environmentalists and elected officials in Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Jim Harrison, president of the Seneca County Landowners Association, a local opponent of the project, looked at the decision in two ways.
"I think it's a positive for landowners," he said. "Overall, when it first went on the agenda I thought we'd be looking at a certificate vote." The pipeline company must receive a Certificate of Public Necessity for construction to start.
However, Harrison said the ruling leaves an open-ended possibility for the pipeline company to meet FERC's requirements and have the project approved later.
He is questioning the FERC process.
"Hello, FERC. Are you really listening?" he said. "They've bent over backwards to give the company the chance to meet this market need criteria.
"It appears they aren't even considering the opposition's point of view," Harrison added. "There's extreme prejudice here in favor of pipeline companies."
In March, he said FERC promised a decision on the project by fall.
"We're going into 2000 and still have no resolution," he said.
County Commissioner Kenny Estep said he hadn't talked with anybody yet who knew all the details of FERC's ruling, but he said he's "cautiously optimistic.
"I think it's a wait and see attitude for us. I really don't know what (FERC's) going to do."
In a news release, Ohio Farmers Union President Charlie Nash said, "We are looking at this week's FERC ruling as a short-term victory. We'll have to see how things develop from here before we can declare this a total victory for the farmers and landowners along this controversial pipeline."
The proposed pipeline would be a 400-mile, 36-inch diameter high-pressure line running from Defiance to Leidy, Penn. It would be part of the larger project to transport natural gas from Chicago to New York.
The pipeline company is a partnership among ANR Pipeline Co., Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. and National Fuel Gas Supply. The partnership filed an application for the project with FERC in March 1997 and originally wanted the pipeline to be under construction by November 1999.
In a joint news release, officials in the partnership said, "We have not yet had an opportunity to review the interim order, but we are pleased that the FERC has taken another step in its review of our projects. We remain firmly committed to these projects and are confident that our continuing efforts will prove successful in meeting the demand for new pipeline capacity and services in the eastern United States."