Posts Tagged ‘natural gas pipeline’

Posted:  September 23

Matt Hughes mhughes@timesleader.com

U.S. Sen. Robert P. Casey stated in a letter Wednesday to a federal agency that he has “grave concerns” about federal oversight of interstate pipelines criss-crossing Pennsylvania.

In his letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Administrator Cynthia Quarterman, Casey, D-Scranton, requests an assessment of the resources and programs in place for the inspection of the more than 7,500 miles of interstate pipelines in Pennsylvania. He also requests that the USDOT consider establishing a pipeline inspection training and certification center in the state.

“I have grave concerns that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has not allocated enough resources to inspect and maintain pipelines properly and does not have adequate training facilities,” Casey wrote.

Casey also referenced the Sept. 10 explosion of a California natural gas pipeline that killed seven and set a San Francisco suburb alight and the July oil pipeline spill that polluted two rivers near Kalamazoo, Mich., as reminders “of just how vulnerable our national system of gas and oil pipelines is and how critical the federal inspection of this system is to protecting American lives and property.”

Although he said he is most immediately concerned with safety, Casey also declares that any pipeline accident could have serious ramifications on the delivery of heating fuel to Pennsylvanians and on industry.

“A pipeline disruption would have severe and far-reaching impacts on local communities beyond the loss of life and property,” Casey wrote.

The senator requested that Quarterman provide him with an assessment of the adequacy of the administration’s staff and resources to inspect pipelines in the state, and, if such resources are inadequate, to provide an assessment of what additional resources are required. Casey also asks Quarterman to consider establishing a training and certification center in Pennsylvania, as, in his understanding, the nearest such center is located in Oklahoma City.

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration spokesman Damon Hill said Wednesday the administration had not yet officially received Casey’s letter and therefore could not comment.

View article here.

Copyright: The Times Leader

By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: August 25, 2010

HARRISBURG – Opposing parties in a high-profile bid by a gas-pipeline company to gain public utility status are attempting to reach a settlement.

The state Public Utility Commission has suspended hearings into the application by Laser Northeast Gathering LLC to become a regulated utility because of the effort to reach a settlement by Sept. 10, agency spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said Tuesday.

Laser Northeast plans to build a 30-mile natural gas pipeline from Marcellus Shale exploration areas in Susquehanna County into southern New York, where it will connect to a larger interstate pipeline. The company has a field office in New Milford.

The Silver Lake Association, several individuals and the company have agreed to seek a settlement, Kocher said. Not all parties who filed intervention requests in the case, including some energy firms, have indicated they support a settlement, however.

The pipeline case has drawn attention because of the prospect that Laser Northeast, as a public utility, could exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire private property for the pipeline. Tom Karam, a Laser Northeast principal and Scranton native, has said the company wants to avoid land condemnation.

Under state law, a utility can exercise eminent domain, but a Common Pleas Court judge in a respective county would have to grant that power, Kocher said.

PUC Administrative Law Judge Susan Colwell held a public hearing on the case in June at Great Bend.

If a settlement is reached, it would undergo a review process with a decision by PUC near year’s end.

rswift@timesshamrock.com

View article here.

Copyright:  Citizens Voice