The Millennium Pipeline Company, LLC plans to build a compressor station on 10 acres located in the Town of Hancock in Delaware County. According to information on the company’s website, www.millenniumpipeline.com/hancock_compressor.html, the compressor will be located on Hungry Hill Road about 3000 feet from the seasonal and weekend community located on the shores of Lake Delaware.

Millennium says the project will have a “15,000 horsepower natural gas turbine-driven centrifugal compressor,” which will be used to increase pressure in the pipeline through Delaware County.

The project will also feature a 90-by-60-foot building, which is 34 feet high, with one stack reaching up to 52 feet. The company projects that the project will become operational in 2013, and create between 75 and 90 temporary construction jobs. The cost of the project is estimated at $37 million.

Noise levels at the facility will be in compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requirements, which include “an acoustically-designed compressor building to contain the compressor unit noise.”

The announcement of the site comes after several media outlets, including The River Reporter, reported that the company had rejected Cochecton and other towns in Sullivan County as the site for a compression station because of resistance from county officials to the project.

The development also comes as a group of residents in Minisink in Orange County, called the Coalition to Stop the Minisink Compression Station, have launched a campaign to stop the construction of another compression station in their area, which has garnered a substantial amount of media attention.

Pramilla Malik, one of the members of the group, said that

local public opinion is nearly unanimous that the project should be halted, and over 800 comments have been issued to FERC about it. She said if FERC approves the project, the group will appeal in court.

The Hungry Hill site has been the subject of controversy in the past. When the pipeline was being expanded in 2008, a couple who lived there complained about various damages to their home because of the work. William Zelop and his fiancée at the time, Anna Andersen, said the work ruined their septic system, caused cracks in the foundation of their basement, and pipeline workers left refuse strewn about the property.

There were also reports of clashes between pipeline workers and local residents, but no charges were ever brought against anyone.

Attempts to reach Zelop were unsuccessful, and his previous phone number is no longer in service.

According to Sam Rowe, supervisor of the Town of Hancock, only three residents have expressed opposition to the project, which will have positive tax implications for the town, the Sullivan West School District and the Long Eddy Fire District.

An informational meeting is scheduled for May 29 at the Hancock Central School from 4:30 to 7 p.m.