Great meeting last night on the Central Penn Pipeline, or Atlantic Sunrise, or Transco, or whatever the Williams company is calling it this week to try to confuse us. Williams, a company with about the worst safety record in the industry, wants to run its 42 pipeline through our river hills. Comments against the pipeline went on for nearly 3 hours last night. I was the 38th commenter, a little after 10 p.m. It could have gone on, but Millersville had to shut down the room. My comments included a statement that no pipeline should be approved, as it will create environmental damage, and strip Pennsylvania landowners of their rights to enjoy and profit from their properties without providing ANY public benefit to these citizens. Also: Environmental damage (construction): Sedimentation and nutrient loads from runoff- The Chesapeake TMDL has no growth allocation for Pennsylvania, therefore any new sources, even temporary, must be offset. As FERC would be the authorizing agency, they must comply with President Obamas Executive Order for Chesapeake Bay protection, Order 13508, and include mitigation for all runoff. Our organization has observed massive failures of E and S controls on the recent FERC approved Spectra pipeline construction in York County, also in the river hills, so additional offsets must be enumerated in any federal permit approval issued by FERC. A study should be included that evaluates potential sediment and nutrient loads, using actual loads that bypass approved E&S implementation. Streams and wetlands- while FERC appears to classify small streams as minor, these small streams are of the highest value in processing and removing nutrients, and are frequently attached to wetlands in this area of Pennsylvania. All crossings of these streams must use Horizontal Directional Drilling, not dry ditch methods, and the HDD must begin outside of the wetland boundaries.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 16:08:11 +0000