HAWLEY, PA — Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to construct a new 13-mile pipeline along side an existing pipeline in Wayne and Pike counties. The application for the Orion Project calls for construction to begin in 2017 and for the pipeline to go into service in 2018.

In response to the application, Delaware RiverKeeper Network (DRN) announced on October 27 that it has intervened in the FERC process, which gives it the right to bring a lawsuit against TGP regarding the Orion Project. Aaron Stemplewicz, staff attorney for DRN said, “Residents and community members can intervene now on the FERC Docket for this pipeline project to preserve their right to bring a legal challenge should they wish to do so down the road or to show their concern and opposition for the pipeline project. The deadline to intervene in time is November 16.”

The project will allow TGP to increase the amount of gas it ships from Pennsylvania fields to customers by up to 135,000 dekatherms per day (dekatherm is the equivalent of 1 million British Thermal Units). The project will run alongside the TGP 300 Line, which was built in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum said, “Pipeline cuts fueled by gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale continue to threaten our communities, our forests, our backyards and some of the cleanest streams of the Delaware River Watershed. In 2011, these same communities suffered from the construction and cuts of TGP’s 300 Line, and now, less than five years later, TGP is back with another 36-inch pipeline proposal that would disturb this quiet rural area once again for TGP to expand their pipeline system.” The pipeline will cut across 26 rivers and streams, including the Lackawaxen River.

A public meeting for landowners and concerned community members will be held on Tuesday, November 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lackawaxen Township Volunteer Fire Department Station 31 (Route 590, Lackawaxen).

The meeting is being organized by The Lackawaxen River Conservancy, Energy Justice Network, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and other groups.

In June 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that FERC ran afoul of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in granting certificates for the upgrade of pipeline projects in Northeast Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey, and the TGP projects figured into that ruling.