Above: Detail from a map showing over a dozen alternate routes proposed by the Constitution Pipeline Company. Full map embedded below. Source: Constitution Pipeline website.
The company behind the Constitution Pipeline, which has held several public meetings to discuss the pipeline's proposed route and answer community questions, is holding two more meetings this week.
The meeting times and places:
Wednesday, September 12
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Best Western Cobleskill
121 Burgin Dr., Cobleskill, NY
Thursday September 13
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Holiday Inn Oneonta
5206 State Highway 23, Oneonta, NY
The Constitution Pipeline is a planned 121-mile natural gas pipeline that will bring gas from Susquehanna County in northern Pennsylvania to the Iroquois and Tennessee pipelines in Schoharie County.
The pipeline has drawn opposition from some landowners whose land its proposed route would cross, and both locals and elected officials have pressed the company to route it along the I-88 corridor to minimize its impact on the landscape.
The Daily Star's Joe Mahoney reports that an alternate route dubbed "Route M" will be the main item on the agenda. Route M hugs the I-88 corridor for most of its length, but would still have an impact on private landowners. From the Daily Star:
Anne Marie Garti of East Meredith, one of the project opponents who have started a grassroots group called Stop the Pipeline, said the map for the “Route M” alternative, as prepared by the developers, shows that a “tremendous number” of landowners would be impacted by the new route. Based on the maps that she has viewed, Garti said, it appears that significant stretches of “Route M” are not within the I-88 right-of-way.
FERC had directed the pipeline planners to come up with the Interstate 88 alternative after several local officials, including Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R-Schoharie, advised the agency that running the pipe along the highway right-of-way would lessen the number of landowners in the pathway.
Later in the month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which must approve the pipeline before construction can start, will hold several public scoping hearings in communities along the proposed route. Here are the meeting dates and places:
September 24, 2012
7 – 10 p.m.
Afton High School
29 Academy Street
Afton, New York 13730
September 25, 2012
7-10 p.m.
Schoharie High School
136 Academy Dr.
Schoharie, New York 12157
September 26, 2012
7-10 p.m.
Blue Ridge High School
5058 School Road
New Milford, Pennsylvania 18834
Below: A PDF map showing proposed routes for the pipeline. Posted on the Constitution Pipeline website; dated August 20, 2012.
