Pipeline company open house

Little local opposition

By TOM KANE

HAWLEY, PA - Gas pipelines and gas drilling are dominating local discourse.

Despite snow and freezing rain that made it necessary to relocate the meeting place, over 50 local land owners attended an open house held by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company on January 6.

Originally, the meeting was scheduled for the Wallenpaupack High School, but since the school was closed earlier in the day due to weather, the meeting was transferred to the Settlers Inn in Hawley.

The company expects to lay down 128 miles of pipeline alongside of the existing line, at a cost of $750 million. The new pipe will have a width of 30 inches to replace the existing 24-inch line, according to Richard Wheatley, manager of media relations for Tennessee Gas. The new line, which carries gas produced by Equitable Energy, will traverse the northern segment of Pennsylvania from a point midway in the state to New Jersey.

Construction of the project is subject to regulatory approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“We need to increase capacity to satisfy the rising demand for gas in the markets located in the northeast of the United States,” Wheatley said. “That is the basic reason why we’re doing this expansion.”

Contrary to common belief, the line will not tie into the Millennium Pipeline that has recently been expanded in New York State.

A secondary reason for the expansion is to accommodate the gas drilling companies that are producing gas from the Marcellus Shale deposits in Pennsylvania.

“Several gas drilling companies along the Marcellus Shale sites in Bradford and Susquehanna counties are currently connected to our line,” said Russell Mahan, director of business development for the company.

Tennessee Gas is owned by El Paso Corporation of Houston, TX, the largest transporter of natural gas in the country.

“We only carry the gas, we don’t produce it,” Mahan said.

The purpose of the meeting was to give landowners a chance to hear what the project would entail.

“We notified every landowner who has the pipeline on their property and any other landowner who would be 0.5 miles from the existing line, to have an opportunity to hear the parameters of the project and to ask questions,” Wheatley said.

“I live along the line and will not profit from this project personally, but I support it because it is going to benefit our nation by producing gas for our people,” said Honesdale resident Kay Bates. “I have no problem with it or with the expansion of electric lines either. How are we going to get needed electricity to people’s homes?”

“I don’t think I will benefit from this project unless I have to grant an extension of my right-of-way to them,” said Shohola resident Aaron Robinson, former owner of the Robinson Saw Mill in Barryville, NY. “I’m here to see the scope of the project and to ensure that the company respects the habitat of wildlife. I’m not against it.”

Bob Suhosky, a Wayne County entrepreneur, sees this project as benefiting Wayne County because of the need for workers who will be employed here. “This will bring about $100 million to the county during construction which we need right now,” Suhosky said.

Suhosky also sees it as affecting national security. “This project and the gas-drilling project that’s happening now will help sustain the nation’s ability to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil.”

If all goes as planned, the gas will be flowing in this new line by November of 2011, Wheatley said.