No hydrofracking waste on roads or in treatment plants in Onondaga County, legislators decide | syracuse.com
March 4, 2014
Millennium Changes Rte 81 Pipeline Plans twice in 2 days
December 18, 2013
Cortland Standard coverage of Rte 81 Pipeline Plan Changes 12/18/13
Plan to connect Millennium pipeline to Dominion pipeline in Cortlandville.
Statement of Joseph Heath, Esq. on Millennium’s tactics: Message from Joe Heath 12-20-13
MILLENNIUM PIPELINE COMPANY PROVES WE CAN’T TRUST
ANYTHING THEY SAY:
On Monday, December 16th, a senior Millennium vice president
e-mailed me and said “Unfortunately, the markets (sic) participation
did not materialize in a sufficient quantity to justify pursuit of the
project at this time.”
However, by Wednesday, December 18th, the Millennium media
spokesman changed that position and told the newspapers “Based
on that initial response there was not sufficient demand to move
forward with the development all the way to Syracuse, so we are still
evaluating the southern part of that line.”
Their plan now appears to be consideration of constructing of a
large, high pressure pipeline from the Millennium east/west pipeline
in Broome County to connect with the Dominion pipeline in the middle
of Cortland County.
So, if we can’t trust their senior vp in charge of the project, how
can we trust their landmen when they come to our doors?
Rest assured that the Stop the I-81 Pipeline resistance group
will continue our work of educating landowners and our communities,
and that we will double down our efforts until everyone is protected.
Our research shows that building a 30 mile pipeline to connect
the Millennium to the Dominion makes no sense, because these
pipelines already cross near Horseheads, in Chemung County. On
September 9, 2013, the pro-fracking Marcellus Drilling News, ran an
article which stated:
The story of the northeast: Too much Marcellus
Shale natural gas, not enough pipelines to move it all
to market. More pipelines are on the way like the
Constitution, but in the meantime, how to move the
enormous amount of gas already flowing? 1
On Friday, the Millennium Pipeline, a major
transmission pipeline that transverses New York
State . . . announced a binding open season through
September 13 on a proposal to ship more Marcellus
gas by creating an interconnect between Dominion
Transmission’s pipeline and the Millennium at or near
Horseheads, NY.
We will need to continue to research how a corporation can
attempt to justify to FERC, or its shareholders, the much more costly
and disruptive 30 mile pipeline, rather than the interconnect in
Horseheads where the two lines already cross.
Unfortunately, the residents and landowners of our
communities cannot get reliable information from this corporation,
and so, we will continue our work, and our research which we will
share with our neighbors.
Landowners will never stop defending their property against
eminent domain by private corporations that seek to build
dangerous, redundant and unnecessary fracked gas infrastructure
across the landscape, bringing ruin to farms, destroying property
values, menacing air quality and drinking water. Millennium should
expect and will receive stiff, well-organized and well-researched
citizen resistance at every step.
Unfractured,
Joe Heath
December 20, 2013
1 Here, the industry is openly admitting what we have known and said repeatedly: these
pipelines are only about moving fracked gas to increase corporate profits.
Page 2 of 2
Industry Announcements of the I-81 Project
July 21, 2013
Natural gas shipper proposes new pipeline from Binghamton to Syracuse area | syracuse.com.
Proposed Millennium Phase 1 Pipeline: North-South Pipeline Connector.
Open SeasonAnnouncement MILLENIUM pipeline extension north south (page 6 maps the route)
http://www.millenniumpipeline.com/documents/OpenSeasonAnnouncementFinal.pdf
The extension will run from Binghamton through Marathon and Cortland to Onondaga Hill, thru the beautiful and vulnerable Tully Valley near the kettle lakes and the extremely unstable mud boil area. The pipe will run across school grounds, through field and farm, skirt the Onondaga Nation and the Town of Otisco and end up in Onondaga Hill connecting to pipelines carrying gas east likely to be exported from proposed LNG export terminals looking to be permitted at ports east.
Additional info on pipeline to link Dominion and Tennessee pipelines, build compressor, etc. Millennium gauges interest in New York pipeline expansion – Oil & Gas Journal.
*Millennium Pipeline Floats Upstate North-South Natural Gas Connector NY Shale Gas Now!. Pipeline route map included!
Millennium Pipeline Company Announces Non-binding Open Season for Upstate Pipeline Project… — PEARL RIVER, N.Y., May 8, 2013
/PRNewswire/ —. The Millenium Pipeline company has started the process to explore the permitting of a new pipeline over an old decommissioned (for safety issues) pipeline.
Protected: I81 Pipeline Research
July 1, 2013
Sun Pipe Line tracking and mapping
June 22, 2013
The Millennium North/South Extension filing indicates that Millennium is negotiating to acquire the Right of Way for the unused Sun Pipe Line. That may mean that property deeds containing an easement for the Sun Pipe Line will be subject to the construction of a new pipeline without any negotiation or payment for the use of the land. To determine whether your property has such an easement you can follow the instructions below written by a Virgil landowner who has done some work at the County Clerk’s office and on Google Earth where the Right of Way is visible as an opening in woods and fields:
To search the pipeline via the Cortland Clerk’s filings go to www.searchIQS.com. On the main search page click INFODEX. This brings you to the index search. See my directions below**.
Attached are the four relevant pages from Section 185 identifying the properties with ROW easements.
Also attached are some examples of what you will find.
Summary of what I learned trying to track the old SUN Pipe Line:
Methods explored:
1. Searched the County Clerks Records; and consulted with the Cortland Planning and Real Property offices. (See how to search clerks records below)**
2. Tracked the easement using Google Earth and layering that with tax parcels. This is how Eric at planning created the Virgil map, as the ROW is clearly visible thru southern Virgil and Lapeer**
3. Spoke with one surveyor who prepared a survey that showed the easement to ask if he had more surveys showing it. He did not. But these surveys are in the Real Prop Office. You just have to physically go there and search using the books, after identifying the properties through the Clerks records.
4. Drove east/west on the likely cross roads to locate the yellow markers where the north/south running SUN pipe line crosses those roads. I emailed pics yesterday of what these markers look like. Don’t confuse the yellow SUN line with NYSEG (also yellow), DOMINION (white with red and green bands), and others.
There is no available map showing this pipe line that is known to the surveyor or staff at the County offices mentioned. The surveyor said he would use all of the above methods to find the line if he was hired to find it. So that’s what I did!
The SunLogistics map I emailed previously shows this old pipe line going to Van Buren, west of Syracuse, but the proposed new line, we think, is going to connect to the Tennessee line. I think this means the new ROW will branch off from the old SUN ROW. I am not clear on this aspect.??
My recommendation: I was able to put together an accurate map covering from the Broome County Line northward to the Rte 41/rte 81 interchange (McGraw), using info gleaned from particular deeds found in the clerks records, google earth, by connecting the dots of known road crossings and projecting that line northwards, and finally driving the crossing roads looking for the yellow markers. I initially lost the trail near Blodgett Mills but found a deed that identified Kellogg Rd (Cortlandville), so I was able to fill in that missing spot. I again lost the trail north of rte 41, but the pipeline must cross large roads like rte 13, probably farther east than I looked. I think by searching the Clerks records and finding deeds that have a useful location description will give us clues where to drive/look. Focus our efforts on Homer and Preble. I think tracking it thru northern Broome won’t be too tough; Stan said he was able to track it with Google earth. Use the GPS coordinates I sent out yesterday as the starting point from Lapeer.
** To search the Cortland County Clerk’s records I tried two approaches:
a. on the main search page I entered in the “Party 1” field “Sun Pipe Line” and under both the document group and document description I explored choosing searches like “easement”, “agreement”, “real property”, “corporations”, “affidavit” , “misc recording” until the same listings and pages started coming up. Came up with some info.
b. The Clerk instructed the best way to find the pipe line was to search using the “INFODEX” tab, located at the top of the main search screen. This is a little complicated, but goes something like this:
select: SEARCH BY NAME tab; select from the menu “1910-1939 grantee corps”; enter SUN PIPE LINE in the NAME field; this brings you to book “S” and indicates Section 185 after the Sun listing;
Look back up top of the page and select the tab “GO TO SECTION” (next to the SEARCH BY NAME tab). Select GO TO BOOK “S”, enter SECTION 185. There are four pages of listings for all of Cortland County from the 1910-1939 period, and they are attached in this email. You can select a more recent index and it might give you more recent info. 1930’s seems to be the start of this pipeline project and looks complete, though there are earlier references. Later listings are sometimes amendments, like adding a pumping station (Drake, 1989, Lapeer)
Take for example one of the listings from page 4, FD Cummings & others to SUN PIPE LINE; liber 166 page 545. Go back to top and click GO TO DOCUMENT; GO TO BOOK 166, PAGE 545. (The SELECT BOOK TYPE tab should automatically reset to DEEDS).
That’s the easy part.
Now you have to search forward from 1939, using the books, moving from grantor to grantee to grantor to find the current owners. And, try to get an idea of the location from the description in the deed! Some of these old descriptions are a hoot! “passes by the old oak tree behind Jeb’s barn”. We will all be gone before we could finish this task.
My thinking is to search a few of these deeds and look for clues in the location descriptions and try to find a few reference points. Then connect the dots; the pipeline generally runs pretty straight. For example, one deed identifies the pipe line running on the west side of Homer/Baltimore road in Preble (Fisher, liber (book) 462 pg 303, attached), and another actually names Snyder Hill road in Virgil (Liber (book) 166, page 1). (I found Liber 166 on a survey I stumbled on) See also DEED book 166, pg 75, my neighbors property.
Many of these listings are in one index, like the mass lease assignments. For example: Liber 166, page 1. Go to INFODEX, select GO TO DOCUMENT, GO TO BOOK 166, PAGE 1. Around page 17 begins many pages of easement listings. Another on page 260. It’s worth exploring liber 462, which I did not.
Using the image drop down menu, go forward one page at a time. My Safari program crashes if I jump too far!!
You will see a reference to the deed with the book and page #. You may find a more useful description here, not always!
The tax ID numbers that Dept of Planning put on the Virgil map are not all up to date, so to find the current owners it is necessary to get help from the Real Prop office or Betsy. Betsy said she could help with that part. She really is a great asset. We are very lucky.
The records search process in Broome and Onondaga Counties is unknown to me.
8 attachments — Download all attachments
 |
1910-35BKs,Sect185,p1.pdf 313K View Download |
|
pg2.pdf 313K View Download |
|
p.3.pdf 329K View Download |
|
p.4.pdf 225K View Download |
|
liber166:page 1.pdf 858K View Download |
 |
sunPipe:IQS search.rtf 34K View as HTML Download |
|
Haines:Brown:SunPipe.pdf 1797K View Download |
|
Fisher:SunPipeLine.pdf 277K View Download |
Central New York Regional Sustainability Plan
June 11, 2013
Central New York Regional Sustainability Plan. 6/2013
Too much emphasis on natural gas for heat and transportation. No tie between natural gas production, infrastructure and use with climate change.
Route I 81 Corridor Pipeline: proposed for Cortland, Broome, and Onondaga Counties
May 13, 2013
Do you know about the proposed new pipeline?
The real name is“Millennium Phase-1 North-South Upstate Pipeline Connector” … but we call it the “I-81 Pipeline”.
It would affect the following towns:
ONONDAGA COUNTY: Onondaga,Otisco Lafayette.Tully
CORTLAND COUNTY: Preble, Homer, Cortlandville, Virgil, Lapeer
BROOME COUNTY: Lisle, Nanticoke, Maine, Union
Check the map to see if you live nearby…
Local Events:
Public Information Session on I81 Pipeline Joe Heath, Craig Stevens, Tues., Nov. 19th 6:30 pm at Lafayette High School, Lafayette, NY
Informational Meeting on I-81 Pipeline held Sept. 23 at Center for the Arts, Homer NY
Video Coverage
SUNY Downtown, 9 Main St. Cortland.
*******
We need volunteers to help fight this invasion of our communities:
Technical experts in geology, ecology, hydrology, energy policy, GIS, mapping, education, communication, social media, PowerPoint and other presentation skills, research, writing testimony for regulatory agencies as well as people who can help inform local communities, landowners and government officials of the implications of a pipeline. If you have concerns, there is a place for you in this endeavor!
Contact us at: gdacc.cortland@gmail.com
*******
Additional Information Sources
Facebook Page:
Like this new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/StopThe I81Pipeline
StoptheI81Pipeline.wordpress.com
Stopthepipeline.org
(Excellent and comprehensive information from group fighting the Constitution Pipeline)
SANE ENERGY PROJECT Website
Several key projects are hitting all at once: The Constitution Pipeline, the Liberty LNG Port, and the Minisink compressor station all face mid-month deadlines. These are but three of the 24 gas infrastructure projects currently planned for New York State. The LNG port alone could change the landscape for New York and the tristate area by opening up the potential for a local export facility.
SUMMARY OF NORTHEAST GAS INFRASTRUCTURE EXPANSION PROJECTS
Details of Northeast Gas Infrastructure Expansion Projects
Industry Announcements of the I-81 Project
Maps
- Maps of proposed route by town Maps of the proposed pipeline through the Tully Valley and down the 81 corridor are now available, thanks to Karen Edelstein.
- Map of existing pipeline infrastructure: iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://maps.fractracker.org/?embed=1&webmap=3dbc4afcfd6343fe82e1adb0b65bada2″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen
- Tracing and Mapping the SUN PIPE LINE through Cortland County
-
Map provided by B.Huston http://wp.me/pJm45-2Wc
Natural Resources Along the Pipeline Route
Geology
Biology
Social & Cultural Resources
Aerial photos of Pipeline Construction
Background Information on Pipelines:
What Do Pipelines Portend?
Pipelines = Fracking. The new federal fracking guidelines include an provision for no venting or flaring of gas at drilling, so pipes have to be in place before wells are drilled. This lays the infrastructure for expanding the extraction of methane to more communities.
Pipelines = Eminent Domain. A taking of your land “for the public good”. Learn about what this means.
Pipelines = Danger. From the PHMSA Pipeline Haz. Materials and Safety Administration – last decade 5600 fires and explosions and almost 400 deaths in the US alone from ‘significant’ pipelines incidents. This does not count leaky pipes and ‘minor’ breaks resulting in dangerous incidents.
Pipelines = Compressors Compressor stations are required every few dozen miles, and compressor stations outgas toxic gasses continually and have proven to be more dangerous to live near than wellpads. This 24″ (at least) line would require large compressors to push the gas through, running 24/7 and outgassing known carcinogenic volatile organics that airborne, ultimately end up in the water, soil and our food.
We have to get on top of the convoluted and segmented permitting process, to gather a voice against the further investment in unconventional gas and oil development.
We need all hands on deck for this. There is work to be done so this ‘proposal’ does not become a reality.
Learn about the permitting process, easements, ramifications of eminent domain and restrictions on landowner rights re easements. Learn how to become involved in the process. Learn about the history of the old pipeline along the same route, and some of the geology of the route, and meet your neighbors and friends to stop this pipeline from bringing fracked gas t
Millennium Announcement of “Open Season” https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.millenniumpipeline.com%2Fdocuments%2FOpenSeasonAnnouncementFinal.pdf
Natural gas shipper proposes new pipeline from Binghamton to Syracuse area | syracuse.com. 5/15/13
Pipeline Brochures:
CDOG PIPELINES
-
Citizens Guide An Interstate Gas Facility on My Land What do I need to know? FERC
-
Know Your Rights When An Interstate Pipeline Comes to Your Community
-
Provides information on participating in the FERC process, a discussion of preemption and federal eminent domain, flow charts showing the stages of the FERC process and sample forms for intervention.
—————————
Municipal Involvement
Video
Gas Pipelines: What Municipalities Need to Know (Video from 2012 Ithaca meeting)
Streaming Video (Playlist):
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL03DAC2669C97191A
Downloads (Media RSS Video & Audio):
http://blip.tv/rss/bookmarks/255459
iTunes (Video):
itpc://blip.tv/rss/bookmarks/255459
Gas Pipelines: What Municipalities Need to Know
May 17, 2012. Ithaca, NY. Free Twenty interstate natural gas pipeline systems crisscross the region from West Virginia to Maine. As gas drilling operations expand, thousands of miles of new pipelines will be needed to connect existing pipelines to gas wells. Learn the difference between gathering, transmission, and distribution lines; what agencies have jurisdiction over the various types of lines; how pipelines are permitted, regulated, and monitored; and how municipalities can prepare for an increase in pipeline networks.
Presenters: Sharon Anderson, Environmental Program Leader, Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County; Jim Austin, Environmental Certification and Compliance, State of New York Department of Public Service; Deborah Goldberg, Managing Attorney, Earthjustice Northeast Regional Office; Meghan Thoreau, Planner, Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board.
Co-sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County and Tompkins County Council of Governments.
Local Governments Should Officially Intervene in FERC Process http://wp.me/pJm45-2Xk
General information on gas infrastructure
Pipelines, Compressors, Storage, Metering Stations — Siteing, Regulation, Public Input, Safety
Note: I have used this. It is clunky and clumsy but the only thing I have encountered that let me find with some precision some lines that run within 4 mi west of me between the Tenessee line and the Millenium line. This is of considerable importance because those Rights of Way will very likely become major conduits and regions where compressors will pop up. One of the lines I was able to trace as far north as Cortland before I lost interest and tracing was getting hard. There is a glitch when trying to trace over a state line, but there is a workaround by just tracing up to the border and then doing another run starting on the other side of the border. Stan Scobie, Binghamton, NY, 607-669-4683
-
Pipeline Safety: Updates to Pipeline and Liquefied Natural Gas Reporting Requirements: A Rule by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on 11/26/2010 .
-
- Document Citation:75 FR 72878 CFR: 49 CFR 191
Summary
This final rule revises the Pipeline Safety Regulations to improve the reliability and utility of data collections from operators of natural gas pipelines, hazardous liquid pipelines, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. These revisions will enhance PHMSA’s ability to understand, measure, and assess the performance of individual operators and industry as a whole; integrate pipeline safety data to allow a more thorough, rigorous, and comprehensive understanding and assessment of risk; and expand and simplify existing electronic reporting by operators. These revisions will improve both the data and the analyses PHMSA and others rely on to make critical, safety-related decisions, and will facilitate both PHMSA’s and states’ allocation of pipeline safety program inspection and other resources based on a more accurate accounting of risk.Show citation box
- Citizens Guide An Interstate Gas Facility on My Land What do I need to know? FERC
- Citizen’s account of trying to protect his property from pipeline company 7/8/13
- PA Public Utilities Commission regulation of pipelines/gathering lines
- Winsor Landowners Rejecting Plan for Gas Pipeline Press-Connects
- Know Your Rights When An Interstate Pipeline Comes to Your Community Provides information on participating in the FERC process, a discussion of preemption and federal eminent domain, flow charts showing the stages of the FERC process and sample forms for intervention.
- Texas may require utilities to replace steel gas lines to prevent explosions – and you may pay. Tuesday, July 6, 2010 By ELIZABETH SOUDER / The Dallas Morning News esouder@dallasnews.com
- No Gas Pipeline (Website for organization against pipeline construction)
- Transmission Pipelines and Land Use: (National Academies Press)
A Risk-Informed Approach — Special Report 281
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11046. Table of Contents
- Firming Renewable Electric Power Generators: Operators and Challenges for Natural Gas Pipelines. The INGAA Foundation, Inc. Mar. 2011. This summarizes a major report on what sorts of pipelines may be necessary for nat gas to serve as a “firming/backup to intermittenet wind/solar renewables. It is 220 pages and seems to have a lot of good stuff in it.
The issues are interesting in that “excess capacity (15%) pipelines may be necessary in order to allow veryfast ramp up of the backing/firming nat gas generation.
This raises to issue of the cost of such excess capacity and who pays for it – think subsidies. - Similar Pipes, Different Rules | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/12/2011.
- Pipeline Investigation: A big firm moves in; landowners face new types of shale leases.
Storage and Transport Infrastructure
Finger Lakes Gas Storage and Infrastructure Project. Salt Caverns, Watkins Glen, NY Even if no fracking occurs in NY, Inergy intends to turn our region into the gas storage and transportation hub of the Northeastern United states- the salt caverns are empty and waiting, the railways are in place, and we’re not paying enough attention to this!
Inergy: Making Marcellus Happen (Watch the video)
Inergy, LP (Finger Lakes LPG Storage, LLC) based in Kansas City is a pipeline and natural gas storage company with approximately 3,000 employees and annual sales of about $1.8 billion.
In 2008, Inergy purchased the U.S. Salt plant on the west side of Seneca Lake approximately 2 miles north of Watkins Glen to “build an integrated gas storage and transportation hub in the Northeast.”
Details of the Inergy proposal include:
- Construct and operate a new underground LPG storage facility for the storage and distribution of propane and butane on a portion of a 576 acre site near the intersection of Rts. 14 and 14A in the Town of Reading.
- Proposed storage capacity of 2.10 million barrels (88.20 million gallons)
- Construction of a 14 acre brine pond located on a steep slope just above Seneca Lake with a capacity of 91.8 million gallons.
- Construction of a new rail and truck LPG transfer facility consisting of: A 6 track rail siding capable of allowing loading/unloading of 24 rail cars every 12 hours 24/7/365. A truck loading station capable of loading 4 trucks per hour (with the possibility to expand) 24/7/365.
- Construction also to include surface works consisting of truck and rail loading terminals, LPG storage tanks, offices and other distribution facilities and stormwater control structures.
Please refer to the “Resources” page for more detailed information on the project and its potentially devastating environmental consequences.
To stay informed please join the Gas Free Seneca Listserv.
- Inergy CEO Statement on Making Marcellus Happen:
Even if no fracking occurs in NY, Inergy intends to turn our region into the gas storage and transportation hub of the Northeastern United states- the salt caverns are empty and waiting, the railways are in place, and we’re not paying enough attention to this!
- “CENTRAL NEW YORK OIL AND GAS COMPANY, LLC ANNOUNCES A NON-BINDING OPEN SEASON FOR NORTH-SOUTH PROJECT”- http://www.stagecoachstorage.com/ExternalFiles/SitesIP/stagecoach/Docs/NORTH-SOUTH%20Open%20Season%20Package.pdf
- “The Marcellus Shale Play: A Reporter’s Peaceful Retreat Becomes A Natural Gas Industry Target: “…Inergy, a Kansas City-based fuel storage and gas pipeline company, bought the plant two years ago in order to convert its salt caverns into a …repository for millions of barrels of liquid propane and butane. The company is putting infrastructure in place to serve the boom in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, a rich deposit running from upstate New York through Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia…” ” (DC Bureau)- http://dcbureau.org/201010181243/Bulldog-Blog/the-marcellus-shale-play-a-reporters-peaceful-retreat-becomes-a-natural-gas-industry-target.html
- “Finger Lakes, LLC LPG Underground Storage Facility”- http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/71619.html
- “DEC Facility No. 8-4432-00085”- http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/permits_ej_operations_pdf/finalscope.pdf
- “Notice of Complete Application”- http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/20100623_not8.html
- “Lead Agency Dispute: Town of Reading Planning Board and the NYS DEC, through its Region 8 office”- http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/65814.html
- “Wells for Disposal of Brine Withdrawn During Cavern Leaching for Gas Storage”- http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/29856.html
- “Company proposes $40M gas project”- http://www.fingerlakesmedia.com/news.php?viewStory=1966
- “Comment on Proposed Storage of LPG in Salt Caverns near Seneca Lake in Schuyler County” (Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes- http://www.preservethefingerlakes.com/2011.01.01_arch.html#1295703642244
Eminent Domain:
Spectra Energy Watch–Property Rights Eminent Domain
- Is a Gas Company a Utility? One of the things the Tioga County Landowners group has discussed in public meetings is the importance of making sure landowners have good pipeline leases – even if they don’t have drilling. The idea, I believe, is that by offering a way to get gas from well to major transmission line, the gas companies won’t be tempted to gain status as a utility which would allow them powers of eminent domain for the gathering lines. Well, here’s how Chief Oil & Gas got around that little hurdle in Susquehanna County, PA – they got permission to use state highway ROW. Not a good precedent for those who would like to lease pipeline routes, and for those who want to have no pipelines across their property.
- Report of Laser Hearings in Windsor 10-20-10
I was one of about 65 people in the auditorium of Windsor High School as officials of the Public Service Commission and Laser Northeast Gathering Company first gave their information presentations and then answered questions and listened to statements from the public.
A 5 member Commission body, under Administrative Law Judge Howard Jack, will, at some point in the future, make a determination to either deny, grant with conditions, or approve the application to construct a 16 inch pipeline capable of carrying up to 170 million cu ft of gas per day. (Asked if the pipeline was being planned to serve more than the 18 wells stated in the application, Laser reps answered with the flow volume, and admitted that it could serve hundreds of wells. At the same time they said that the wells in PA that are now producing are not producing gas at a high rate.) Because the application is for a line that is less than 10 miles in length the PSC is not required under Article VII <www.dps.state.ny.us/articlevii.htm> to give the application its “full review”. Article VII was created in 1970 and actions under this law are not subject to SEQR (created at a later date). Neither does an Art VII certificate grant eminent domain or property rights.
We were told that Laser has been working for a year with not only the Town of Windsor but with the 1700 member Windsor Landowner Pipeline Coalition to put the pieces in place for this project. Windsor has enacted road protection and noise ordinances <http://tinyurl.com/2fc3hau>. The landowners have negotiated contracts. Laser owns the 40 acre parcel for the compressor station.
The audience asked questions about compressor station maintenance and noise, about emergency planning, odorizing the gas in the lines, depth under roads and rivers, and environmental protections during the construction phase.
I asked several questions about maintenance and gas leak monitoring. The Laser reps told me that the station will be monitored closely and that they have the capacity to “count gas molecules entering and leaving the station”. They did Not say that the incoming and outgoing volume is balanced but said instead that it is “reconciled”. And no, they have never considered using infra-red technology to look for leaks. And No, the gas “is not required to be” odorized.
There are 80 residences on the perimeter of the 40 acre parcel that will hold the compressor station. Several people asked questions about noise. The PSC standard is 40 decibels at any residence. The Windsor ordinance states: maximum noise levels “During daytime hours: ambient noise levels plus five (5) dBA. During nighttime hours: ambient noise levels plus three (3) dBA. Additionally, until demonstrated by the applicant or by the Town, ambient noise or sound levels within the Town of Windsor shall be assumed to be 35 dBA.
Using the “Teacher’s Resource Guide” <http://tinyurl.com/c9zxdx > I find that they rate 40 decibels the noise level in a library.
I asked if compliance with the Windsor ordinance is required under the Art. VII certificate and was told that “it could be”.
During the public comment part of the evening, there were 7 presentations. Of those 7, 5 people lauded the Laser company for the wonderful job they have done in bringing this opportunity to the people of Windsor. Two people (one of them Deborah Goldberg) spoke for full review, no pipelines before SGEIS approval, cumulative impact study, and for tighter environmental protections.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have gotten this far in reading you understand that the landowner coalitions did a good job of getting their members out to this hearing. The company reps did their usual job of talking slick. The PSC administrators need to hear from lots more people who want a full review (this pipeline will be much more than 10 miles in length when they get any of the laterals in place). Visit http://tinyurl.com/2bbbzby , and scroll down to the comment section.
Pipelines are coming to your neighborhood folks! Do you want to live next to a compressor station with its attendant noise and air pollution? We need to make a larger stink than they plan to make or these things will be rubber stamped into place. Remember, they need pipelines to put the gas into before they drill. If the pipelines are here the drillers will come.
Request full review. Request infra-red monitoring and odorizing of the gas. Request environmental protections and full cumulative study.
Marie McRae
Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition. Wednesday, July 7, 2010
- Pa. to Corning gas line gets OK: “…Corning, N.Y. — A proposed $43 million gas pipeline from the Pennsylvania border up to Corning has received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, clearing the way for construction next summer. Empire Pipeline’s new 15-mile-long, 24-inch pipeline will carry Marcellus Shale gas produced in Pennsylvania north to Corning, where it will connect with the Millennium Pipeline…The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, based in Washington, D.C., determined the project would not have a significant environmental impact. The agency’s assessment was detailed in a 119-page report sent to The Leader last week. The report is posted online at http://www.ferc.gov . Several other local, state and federal agencies were involved in the review…FERC’s approval gives Empire Pipeline the right to use eminent domain, although company officials say that’s a last resort. They have already been negotiating compensation deals with landowners. About 50 area residents attended a presentation and public hearing in Corning back in late April, but no one voiced opposition…” ” (Corning Leader) (NY & PA)- http://www.the-leader.com/topstories/x1145377423/Pa-to-Corning-gas-line-gets-OK
Accidents, Spills, Explosions of Pipelines and other Gas installations:
Ageing Pipelines
-
Fuel For Debate By Tom Grace Cooperstown News Bureau The Daily Star Sat Sep 25, 2010, Are gas pipelines dangerous?
Regulations/Oversight
- API & Gov’t Cited Safety Regulations Online Free, but you need to register to view the “read only” files.
- API authored all or part of 27 standards on pipeline safety that were then adopted by a key agency that oversees pipelines, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Many of the standards were not easily accessible to the public, as copies were kept at the PHMSA and API offices but were not released online. There have been similar reports of the now-defunct Minerals Management Service adopting the industry’s offshore drilling standards.API makes quite a bit of money selling these standards, which is why the group originally didn’t put them online. Now, the public can see a
read-only version of the standard. Hard copies will still have to be purchased. The 160 standards that have been put online are just one-third of the standards authored by API, but the group says all of the safety-related standards have been put online. - Oil and Gas Industry Writes Its Own Pipeline Standards. Pipeline Regulator PHMSA Adopts All or Parts of At Least 29 Standards Written by Oil and Gas Industry. By Andrew Restuccia 8/13/10 12:25 PM
- Energy officials: Time needed to report incidents. Updated: Sep 24, 2010 12:06 AM Friday. By JOAN LOWY. Associated Press Writer
-
Gas Blasts Spur Questions on Oversight. By ANDREW W. LEHREN. New York Times. September 24, 2010. Experts say that weak oversight of the 2.7 million miles of gas pipeline in the United States has contributed to hundreds of episodes that have killed 60 people in the last five years. Gas Blasts Spur Questions on Oversight
- Unregulated Produced Fluid Pipeline Leaks. https://gdacc.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/uninspected-antero-pipelines-already-leaking.doc (The proper context for this issue is that there are no regs/permits etc for this sort of pipeline – whatsoever. The BIG central impoundments that the dSGEIS talked about serving multiple large pads, impoundments for flowback, etc, will be very big ponds, connected to multiple well sites by these sorts of “temporary pipes. Stan Scobie, Binghamton, NY)
-
How to keep energy pipelines safe. By Donald F. Santa. Albany Times-Union. December 5, 2010.
-
Map Gas Lines to Ensure Safety. Stan Scobie. Albany Times Union. Dec. 19, 2010.
-
NPR 15 mins on pipeline accidents and poor inspection oversight. http://nogaspipeline.org/2010-12-17/pbs-exposes-egregious-lapses-in-pipeline-safety-no-gas-pipeline-in-jersey-city. 2-17-2010
-
PBS Need to Know Dec. 17, 2010 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/video-invisible-lines-the-dangers-of-natural-gas-pipelines/5874/
-
Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) within the U. S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). PHMSA is the primary federal regulatory agency responsible for ensuring the safety of America’s energy pipelines. We develop and implement pipeline safety regulations at the federal level, and we share regulatory responsibility with the states, to provide oversight to more than two million miles of pipelines. http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/Index.htm?nocache=6419
GDACC 
