Study Fuels Worry: Spectra Energy Will Meet With York County Residents to Discuss a Proposed Pipeline.
By Sean Adkins, York Daily Record, Pa.
Jun. 19–Lewis Small is concerned that the installation of a proposed natural gas pipeline could force him to relocate his greenhouse and damage a portion of his farming operation.
About a month ago, Small allowed surveyors from Spectra Energy to study a patch of his seven-acre Lower Windsor Township farm.
The Houston-based company is surveying local land that parallels existing utility rights-of-way to determine a potential route for a proposed 33-mile, natural-gas pipeline that would run from Lancaster County through southern York County.
Once on Small’s farm, Spectra’s land agents marked a possible path, or study corridor, where the company’s proposed pipeline could run.
That corridor runs parallel to an existing right-of-way for a FirstEnergy power line.
“The corridor would run right
through my greenhouse,” Small said. “That’s how it looks right now as it’s surveyed.”
Aside from the greenhouse, Spectra’s flagged corridor on Small’s farm includes his mum’s flower bed and a Redbud tree seed grove.
“That could cost me an estimated $50,000,” Small said. “I would need to relocate the greenhouse, put the mum’s bed back down, and the Redbud trees would need to be replanted.”
Small said he plans to voice his concerns at a public meeting hosted by Spectra Energy from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Lower Windsor Township Community Building.
Spectra will host three meetings in which company representatives will answer questions concerning the proposed
pipeline, Susan D. Waller, a Spectra Energy spokeswoman, said.
The company will fold the resident’s comments and concerns into the project’s planning process, she said.
“The land owners can be real assets in locating proposed routes,” Waller said.
That’s good news for Small.
If a pipeline would fall on the east side of the existing power line, as Spectra’s study shows, that project could heavily damage Small’s agribusiness.
Yet, if the line would run on the west side, Small’s business would not be affected.
“They told you that they would try to find the best route, but what that means is the best route for them and not the best route for the homeowner,” Small said. “I’m hoping, at the meetings, that they say the routes are just preliminary and that they are going to survey again so that they minimize the property damage.”
sadkins@ydr.com;771-2047
IF YOU GO
Spectra Energy will host three meetings next week on the utility’s plan to build a 33-mile, natural-gas pipeline that would stretch from Lancaster County through southern York County:
— Spectra’s first meeting will be 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Hellam Township Building at 44 Walnut Springs Road.
— The second meeting will be 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Lower Windsor Township Community Building at 2425 Craley Road.
— The third meeting will be 6 to 8 p.m. June 26 at the Chanceford Township meeting room on Muddy Creek Forks Road.
DETAILS
Houston-based Spectra Energy has proposed a 33-mile, natural-gas pipeline that would run from Lancaster County through southern York County.
Should the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approve the project, the pipeline, to be built by November 2010, would funnel natural gas from the Rocky Mountains.
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, which serves nearly 100,000 customers in York County, is a customer of Spectra Energy.
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Copyright (c) 2008, York Daily Record, Pa.
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