MILFORD, PA — Activists fighting the expansion of the compressor station in Milford are moving in two tracks. Most recently they filed an appeal with the PA Environmental Hearing Board over the plans for the station on March 5.

The old station has been demolished, and the new one will have motors that are 13 times more powerful than the previous ones. NiSource, which is the parent company of the Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG), plans to use gas-powered motors, which opponents say will spew emissions equivalent to that of 100 idling school buses. Opponents say “best practices” call for the use of electric motors, which are quieter, and would not result in the release of emissions.

Scott Castleman, a spokesman for CPG, said in an email, “All options for compressor units at the Milford location were evaluated, including the use of electric motors, and it was determined that using gas-powered equipment was the environmentally preferred option. FERC analyzed this issue as well in their environmental review and concluded that the compressor turbines we will be using meet best available technology standards in accordance with federal and state requirements.”

Alex Lotorto, a Milford resident who consults for the Energy Justice Network, said opponents hope that NiSource will agree to a technical settlement in the state and adopt best practices in several areas, which would be helpful to residents who live near the site.

Another track in the battle is the process being pursued through the Federal Emergency Regulatory Commission (FERC), which has issued a certificate of necessity and public convenience for the project. FERC has granted a rehearing on the certificate on an application from the Clean Air Council (CAC).

One of the main complaints about the project is that NiSource has improperly “segmented” review of several projects over the past several years that are actually all part of the same larger project that should have been reviewed together under provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.

This is the same argument used by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) in its battle against Tennessee Pipeline in Pike County. DRN was not able to prevent the construction from taking place, but it did win the case in federal court.

Preliminary work has been done on the site, but the main part of the construction has not started. Lotorto says CAC will ask FERC for a stay in the further construction of the compressor station, but is convinced that it will not be granted. At that point, CAC will file a lawsuit in federal court.

There are other areas of concern. Lotorto’s personal opinion is that a compressor station is not needed because there is plenty of power from the new Minisink, NY compressor station to get the gas where it needs to go.

He and his group believe the compressor station will be used to help get fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania to the Dominion Cove Point liquid natural gas export facility, which has been approved by FERC and which is expected to come on line in 2017.

But CPG says that’s not so.

Finally, media reports indicate that unlike other companies, NiSoure has declined to apply for some of the permits that are required by Borough of Milford zoning. CPG said, “The approval of interstate pipeline projects such as the East Side Expansion falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), as opposed to local zoning boards. In evaluating proposed projects, FERC conducts an extensive environmental review and also requires companies to obtain various other federal and state environmental permits, as required by federal law. CPG has or will obtain every permit applicable to the East Side Expansion project [in Milford] prior to beginning construction.”

That matter will also likely be brought up in the appeals process.