Underground Gas Pipeline Draws Few Signs Of Protest

Approval of a natural gas pipeline in parts of Chester and Delaware Counties could be "pretty much routine" unless more public opposition surfaces in the next few weeks, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Tamara Young-Allen of the commission's public affairs office in Washington said last week that the FERC review of the application by Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. could be completed in six months unless public hearings or an environmental impact study are requested.

Young-Allen said she did not know whether such requests were included in letters received from four individuals who had filed comments with the FERC as of Tuesday .

A secretary in the West Bradford Township building said Tuesday that the Board of Supervisors had written to the FERC, but Young-Allen said she did not have the township on the list of those from whom letters have been received.

At their December meeting, the supervisors said they intended to ask FERC to conduct an environmental impact study and a safety study.

Although Monday was the FERC deadline for filing comments or objections to the Columbia application, Young-Allen said in most cases the commission allowed comments received after the cutoff date to be entered in the record.

Chris Herman, land manager with the Environmental Management Center of the Brandywine Conservancy in Chadds Ford, said Tuesday: "I would expect more. How many I can't predict." The conservancy has organized a Landowners Steering Committee of property owners from the affected municipalities.

The route of the 20-inch line crosses portions of privately owned land on which the conservancy holds conservation easements. The pipeline would be installed three feet below the ground and would have a permanent 50-foot right-of-way.

Columbia wants to extend its main transmission line from its Downingtown Area Compressor Station on Poorhouse Road in West Bradford Township to Swedesboro in Gloucester County, N.J. The 33-mile line is expected to cost nearly $26 million. It would run through about 140 properties in 10 municipalities in Chester and Delaware Counties. It would cross the Brandywine Creek twice and the Delaware River near Claymont, Del.

The company said it needs the line to supply gas to two new wholesale customers, Delmarva Power & Light Co. in Delaware and South Jersey Gas Co.