Millennium gas leak frightened local couple

Pipe infrastructure is not access for Marcellus drillers

By TOM KANE

LONG EDDY, NY - In the early evening of March 18, Anna Andersen was chasing her dog who wandered near a gas line access point that stands above the ground. She smelled gas, heard a hissing and then, along with her fiancé Bill Zelop, called 911 and the police.

The gas pipe access, which is located on Hungry Hill Road, stands 75 yards from their home.

Firefighters arrived several minutes later, gas company staff arrived an hour after that and stopped the leak. It was a loose bolt, according to Michael Armiak, director of external affairs for the Millennium Pipeline Company.

Armiak said the company maintains several of these points, which have a twofold purpose, along the 182-mile length of the pipe.

“They allow access to the pipe line in order to turn the flow of gas off if there is a problem along the line,” Armiak said. The other purpose is to allow access to the pipe line in certain places for gas companies like New York State Electric and Gas Company (NYSEG) and others.

Armiak denied that the structure serves as a loop that would grant access to gas companies exploring the Marcellus Shale gas deposit that is said to be beneath the ground in the area.

Nearby in Pennsylvania, the Tennessee Pipeline Company is fitting its pipe line with just such loops for the companies that will be producing gas from the Marcellus Shale deposits.

If such a company did discover and want to produce gas, they would have to make a request of Millennium to construct an access point, Armiak said.

Zelop said that his neighbor has granted a right-of-way to the gas company to put in a 75-foot road that will grant access to another neighbor’s 100-acre property. That neighbor has signed a lease with Chesapeake Gas Company.

“That tells me that somebody is preparing to find gas under the ground here,” Zelop said.

Zelop, a local mason, and Andersen have had a long-standing dispute with Millennium over several problems caused by the pipe line upgrade operation, which centered on a segment of their property very close to their house. “It was like living in hell during the entire operation, which lasted nearly a year,” Zelop said.

“They completely ruined our septic system and raw sewage has spread over the area next to our house,” Zelop said.

The company promised to restore their septic system but has not yet done so, he said.

Anyone who discovers a leak should call the company at 800/835-7191 and notify the local police and fire company, Armiak said.