November 27, 1998
Changes proposed to pipeline through county
By Vicki Hunker
Staff Writer
Changes to the proposed route of Independence Pipeline through Seneca County have been proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
FERC, which has been reviewing the environmental impact of the project for about six months, recommended the changes, which would more closely follow existing pipeline routes.
The new proposed route would change 22 of the 35 miles through the county and affect 80 different landowners.
''Now if approved, it's going to head more or less straight east,'' said Clark Hutson, Ohio State University Extension agent for agriculture, natural resources and community development.
Roughly, the route would enter the county at the original spot just north of Fostoria. At a point south of Bettsville and north of Bascom near CR 592, it would continue easterly, instead of veering southeasterly.
Instead of crossing the Sandusky River just north of Tiffin, the new route would cross the river farther north, closer to Sugar Creek.
The new route would begin to veer southeasterly north of Republic and west of SR 19, cross SR 18 just east of Republic and continue southeasterly until it rejoins the original route just west of Attica.
The original pipeline route was first proposed in early 1997 by ANR Pipeline Co., a Detroit-based subsidiary of Coastal Corp., Houston; Transcontinental Pipe Line Corp., Houston; and National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. of Buffalo.
The 36-inch-diameter, 400-mile-long underground line would be constructed to connect ANR Pipeline Co.'s compressor station at Defiance with Transco's pipeline system in Leidy, Penn.
The companies proposing the pipeline said the pipeline is needed to link natural gas supplies in the Rocky Mountains and Canada with high demands for gas on the East Coast.
Hutson said some landowners have been contacted by ANR Pipeline Co. representatives and asked to sign a contract giving the company an easement through their property.
The landowners contacted have mainly been the owners who previously gave permission for surveying on their land.
''It's the ones that have worked with them in the past,'' Hutson said.
Hutson said ANR is interested in getting as many easements as possible before FERC give a final approval or disapproval to the project because it will make getting FERC approval easier.
''Our recommendation is to take (the contract) to your attorney and have him look it over,'' Hutson said. ''There's always room for negotiation in them.''