MILFORD, PA — Substantially elevated methane around the new Hancock, NY, gas compressor station foreshadows what Milford can expect if the Columbia Pipeline gas compressor under construction begins running in September without alterations, says Barbara Arrindell, a founder of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS). At a Milford Township supervisors meeting on July 6, she presented findings from sensitive surveys of ground-level methane before and after the Hancock compressor began functioning and from baseline surveys of methane in Milford. While ambient methane in Hancock was initially found at approximately 1.9 parts per million, after the compressor began operation, ambient levels rose to five times that amount in a radius of more than a mile around the compressor.

Not only does methane result in greenhouse effects 86 times greater than carbon dioxide, conducive to global warming and local smog, but elevated methane levels also indicate the presence of other toxic components of emissions identified on the compressor permit, Arrindell said. Elevations in methane indicate elevations in carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, fine particulate matter, volatile organic compounds and other pollutants, she said.

The baseline methane survey in Milford was done in September 2014 by Robert Ackley, director of science and technology at Gas Safety Inc., in Southborough, MA, who did the Hancock survey. The surveys are part of an academic study of compressor emissions by Arrindell and her DCS cohorts. Ackley’s instrument, a cavity ring-down laser spectrometer, takes more than two measures per second and indicates how much methane, a fast-moving gas, is persistently present. He surveyed 20 miles of roads from six miles northwest of the Milford compressor site to 14 miles northeast and found “consistently low levels of methane concentrations,” with the exception of an area within 1,000 feet of the compressor station on Fire Tower Road, where Columbia and Tennessee pipelines have been expanded. In that location, methane was more than double levels elsewhere. Identification of which gas infrastructure parts are emitting methane was “beyond the scope” of the survey, the report said.

Justin Snyder, who lives next to the compressor, has reported noxious odors from the site and consequent bouts of nausea and other ailments. At the meeting, Alex Lotorto, of Energy Justice Network, suggested he pursue a civil suit against Columbia Pipeline for damages.

But Snyder said, “That would be a copout. Before the pipeline expansion I visited the house 47 times and there was no problem. I’m not just taking a fat check from two companies to be quiet.”

Arrindell disagreed.

“In places where protest suits are loud enough, industry behavior has been different later. It’s a way of getting compensation for damages. The problem of nondisclosure agreements with settlements is a separate choice.”

Township supervisor Don Quick said the supervisors had always opposed the compressor expansion.

“The township has not been asleep at the switch,” he said. “But Columbia has stonewalled our requests for a conditional-use hearing.”

Former township solicitor Doug Jacobs and current solicitor Anthony Magnotta advised against taking legal action against Columbia for construction without a hearing. They warned that the town could be bankrupted by corporate opponents. Township supervisor Gary Clark said he spent many hours on the phone with a Columbia Pipeline representative negotiating for a low-emissions electric compressor, to no avail.

Lotorto has organized residents near the compressor for an Environmental Hearing Board appeal to require Columbia to use “best available control technologies” to reduce the 1600 pounds of daily emissions that Arrindell says will spread in plumes around the valley, including Milford Borough, less than two miles from the compressor. She says pipeline emissions have been associated with illness in both animals and people in their vicinity.

In June, a family near the Minisink, NY compressor station abandoned their house because of the implications of their symptoms. Residents’ symptoms included asthma attacks, gushing nosebleeds, nausea and rashes. Other nearby symptomatic families sold their houses at significant losses.

Lotorto said that an electric-powered compressor would substantially reduce emissions. Around the electric compressor in Lackawaxen, he said, "There was no methane reading above baseline. But Columbia said they wouldn’t consider an electric compressor."

What they would be willing to do is install $1500 worth of technology to divert periodic blowdown emissions and pay someone to intermittently operate it. A vapor recovery system would also be possible. But Lotorto says the majority of emissions would persist.

In preparation for litigation, he is looking for an electrical engineering expert who can provide testimony on the viability and cost of an electric compressor—that it would not consume $132 million in profits Columbia is projected to make in 10 years from the compressor.

Meanwhile, a new metering station, that was not mentioned in the public FERC application, is being constructed near the compressor, said Joseph Zenas, of Shohola, who has done environmental monitoring for Delaware Riverkeepers. And the gas turbines have already arrived.

"Rushing in machinery is meant to intimidate," said Arrindell. "It’s not your problem if they have to move equipment."