Public, private officials fume over gas pipeline

Westchester County Business Journal, Mar 16, 1998 by T, Mary

A Fairfax, Va., company's controversial plans to construct a natural gas pipeline through parts of Westchester have prompted Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. to seek a meeting with county and municipal officials later this month.

Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. has proposed building a 422-mile pipeline from Lake Erie in Canada to Mount Vernon. The $650 million Millennium Pipeline Project would run underground, passing through portions of Cortlandt, Yorktown, New Castle, Mount Pleasant, Ossining, Greenburgh, Yonkers and Mount Vernon.

While most municipal officials have yet to take sides on the issue, Con Edison has made its opposition official. "The pipeline would run under our high voltage transmission lines, and any fire or explosion would increase the potential of a New York City power disruption," said spokesman Michael Spall.

According to Spall, the pipeline would also cost Con Edison and its customers more money. Since there are not enough pipes to handle the 350,000 cubic feet per day from Columbia Gas, Con Edison would be forced to build additional pipelines, then pass the costs along to its 1 million natural-gas customers. "It would be like a long highway coming to an end, with not enough local roads or exits to get off," said Spall.

Con Edison officials are scheduled to meet with the Environmental Committee of the Westchester County Legislature before the end of the month.

Joining Con Edison in its opposition to the project is Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner. "The project falls right on a fault line," said Feiner. "Ardsley had an earthquake in 1985 and if something like that happened again, the results could be really devastating."

Feiner has recommended that the municipalities fight the proposal. "This is not something that's essential. We don't desperately need another gas line," he said.

In the meantime, Greenburgh, other affected municipalities, Westchester County and Con Edison have all applied for "intervenor" status in the project's review process. "As a result, we'll be on the mailing list for all notifications about the project," said Jim Doughty, a spokesman for County Executive Andrew Spano. "At this point we're not expressing support or opposition. We want to have a seat at the table and gather as much information as we can."

As proposed now, the pipeline would pass through or near sensitive environmental sites such as George's Island Park in Buchanan, the Croton Gorge park, the Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway, the Bronx River Parkway, Tarrytown Lakes and the county's Valhalla campus at Grasslands.

Croton-on-Hudson Mayor Robert Elliott said he has already received some phone calls from concerned neighbors. "This could be a major impact during construction," he said. "People are also worried that it could affect their property values."

Elliott, who is also the president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, said he'll continue to monitor any developments on the project.

Linda Puglisi, Cortlandt town supervisor, said she has also been fielding a lot of questions from local residents. "Right now, we're trying to learn more about it," she said. "Still, I am concerned about anything like this going through northern Westchester. We've had many things dumped on us like Indian Point and high voltage lines."

In Yorktown, Supervisor Linda Cooper echoed the concerns. "We haven't take a position on it yet. Yorktown does have some gas lines running through residential neighborhoods, so we know people can live there without experiencing an unhealthy situation." Like Elliott and Puglisi, Cooper said the village is still in the stage of asking a lot of questions.

Richard Halevy, a spokesman for Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, said the city is willing to listen to Columbia Gas. "We haven't taken a position for or against, but we're not going to support anything that will disrupt traffic, or the environment, or be a safety hazard."

According to Karl Brack, a spokesman for Columbia Gas, there is a growing need for natural gas in the Northeast. "The Clean Air Act requires power producers to reduce their emissions, and a lot of them are now switching to natural gas because it burns much cleaner. Right now, there are not enough pipelines to meet this growing need."

Brack said the connection point in Mount Vernon will allow suppliers like Con Edison, the Long Island Lighting Co. (LILCO), and Brooklyn Union Gas to deliver the product to their customers. He argued that running the pipeline under Con Edison's transmission lines is safe. "Natural gas has a good safety record. Incidents involving natural gas transmission pipelines are rare."

Brack said Columbia hopes to start the project in May 1999 and have it in service before 2000. Funding for the project would be provided by Columbia, with a 47.5 percent ownership, Westcoast Energy Inc. of Vancouver, Canada, with a 21 percent interest, TransCanada PipeLines, also with a 21 percent interest, and MCM Energy of Michigan holding a 10.5 percent interest.

Columbia's application is under review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will conduct a series of environmental scoping sessions this month.