by Thaddeus Flint
A new high pressure gas pipeline, previously proposed to run through the towns of Chatham, Canaan and New Lebanon, may instead follow a new route further to the north, through the Town of Stephentown. A compressor station would also probably have to be built somewhere in that area to maintain the flow of gas.
[private]A draft environmental report filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by the company responsible for the project, Kinder Morgan, states that an alternative route exists using “an existing New York powerline corridor” which would try to avoid “the congested populated areas of Pittsfield and Dalton, Massachusetts.”
The pipeline would transport natural gas from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania to New England where it would be used to power electrical plants there. The project has been the focus of strong opposition from parties all along the proposed route who believe the gas to be contaminated with dangerous chemicals from the fracking process. These groups are also worried about the possibility of a pipeline explosion; the new pipeline is under much more pressure than older ones in the area and a rupture could be difficult to control and cause catastrophic damage. Compressor stations are also seen as both a threat to the environment (they could leak or vent gases and chemicals) and the beauty of the area (they are massive, ugly, industrial complexes and possibly make a lot of noise).
Richard N. Wheatley, Director Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Kinder Morgan, could not confirm that the new route follows the power lines owned by National Grid just north of Route 43 through Stephentown and into Hancock, MA. “NY routing is still under evaluation,” he wrote on December 2. “The NY Powerline Alternative Map in the [Resource Report 10] Appendix does not show Stephentown specifically.”
However, an article in the Berkshire Eagle on November 25 seems to suggest otherwise, reporting that “an official of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners on Monday said the company is looking at a new path, known as the New York Powerline Alternative, which would enter the county in Hancock from Stephentown, N.Y.”
“We are seriously considering the New York Powerline Alternative as part of our preferred route,” stated Allen Fore, Vice President for Public Affairs for Kinder Morgan.
Resource Report 10 actually backs the statements of both Fore and Wheatley. A map labeled 10.3-4 shows the new proposed route as a purple line entering the area where Route 66 and Route 43 split close to the Averill Park Nassau line. The purple line then follows Route 43 to the Massachusetts border. Stephentown is not labeled on the map and no mention is made of the Town in the accompanying document. But anyone who can find Stephentown on a map can see the purple line runs right through it.
Along with the pressurized gas, and its possible contaminants, one of the biggest problems that opposition groups are finding in the project is a lack of transparency when it comes to Kinder Morgan.
“I think the alternative route is definitely a possibility,” said Becky Meier of Canaan. “But who can say what Kinder Morgan really has in mind.”
If anyone in the area knew what was going through the corporate mind of Kinder Morgan, it would probably be Meier. She, along with Robert Connors of Canaan, was the first to alert local residents to the project at a public meeting back in June. Since then the group Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP) has organized and grown.
“I will be happy if the route does not go through Canaan,” said Meier, who added that SNYFGP will now try to work with those along the alternative route. “During my research about fracking and pipelines, I have come to believe that fracking is dangerous to our planet’s existence and gas pipelines just encourage fracking and are not necessary. We should concentrate on planet saving energy alternatives. I am committed to fighting this pipeline as it will still be going through an area near to where I live.”
“SNYFGP plans to meet with NY Powerline Alternative activists to plan initial strategies and tactics,” wrote Connors on December 2. “I have already begun to reach out to several individuals and groups in the proposed NYPA (New York Powerline Alternative) route, and they and we have invited the NYPA activists to our next SNYFGP core meeting on December 16.”
While the opposition is now busy alerting residents along the new proposed path, Kinder Morgan has been less communicative. In fact they cancelled a meeting in Schodack scheduled for December 4 so that people in the area could “have additional time to examine the information and detailed maps.”
The meeting has not yet been re-scheduled.
Stephentown Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt said on December 3 that “the only information I have on the proposed route was just an email addressed to Board members and myself on an article that was in the Berkshire Eagle. That’s all I know.”
Resident and EMS Assistant Chief Rik McClave, whose property borders the power lines that cross through the Town said he has had “no contact yet” with anyone from Kinder Morgan. “I read about it in the Berkshire Eagle,” wrote McClave. “Yes, [I’m] concerned – slightly – they are very safe, BUT when they go bad, they really, really go bad.”
Fred Haley, who owns land on both sides of the National Grid power line right of way in Stephentown, said he has not been contacted by Kinder Morgan but if they are proposing to run a gas pipeline through that right of way he thinks it is “a wonderful idea” that would greatly enhance the tax base in Rensselaer County.
Haley said he would not expect to be contacted because the right of way is owned by the New York Power Authority to whom Haley’s family sold the land back in 1923. However, if Kinder Morgan should need additional land for a compressor station, he would be glad to sell it to them. As a surveyor, Haley said he has worked for years with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, and its predecessors, and has always found them to be a great company and “wonderful neighbors.” The accusations circulating about Kinder Morgan, he believes, are completely unfounded and the arguments against fracking for natural gas are silly. The proposed gas pipeline, he said, “would not in any way hurt anybody.”
Susan Sedylmayr, from East Chatham, however, could do without such “wonderful neighbors” and hardly believes she still won’t get them. “We have almost two years of sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting for this whole thing to go away,” said Sedylmayr. “I have no confidence in Kinder Morgan that they can be trusted to do what they say they will do.”[/private]