Regardless of opposition, normal gasoline pipeline stays in plans for northern Greenville County
Piedmont Purely natural Gas intends to sooner or later prolong a higher-pressure pipeline in northern Greenville County to fulfill the area’s growing need for vitality.
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Whilst the route and timing for the $38 million undertaking have however to be decided, an to begin with proposed path reaching from Taylors to Vacationers Rest achieved with outcry from landowners and environmental teams.
“They confronted a great deal of warmth past 12 months, so they experienced to again off, but they have not supplied up on the chance,” stated Frank Holleman, a senior lawyer with the Southern Environmental Regulation Center.
Piedmont All-natural Gas spokesperson Tammie McGee said the company is “generally content to pay attention to the issues of our communities.”
“We have taken this again to the drawing board. We’re taking a fresh look at it,” McGee mentioned. “We have not decided what the task may well eventually appear like, but we have our engineers studying and on the lookout for a route that would deliver the least impression to home proprietors and the setting.”
The pipeline, recognized as the Line 201 Extension, is on a record of assignments that Piedmont Organic Gasoline officers discussed in the course of a state General public Provider Fee conference Thursday afternoon.
Piedmont Normal Gas, which is owned by Duke Energy, serves 153,000 clients, 90% of which are household, in accordance to paperwork submitted with the fee final month. The enterprise has a $714 million utility plant, 78 miles of transmission pipelines and 3,825 miles of distribution pipelines.
Officers with Piedmont Purely natural Gasoline advised public provider commissioners Thursday that they are thoroughly examining their plans for the pipeline extension in northern Greenville County.
Holleman, a spokesperson for a group termed Pals of Beaverdam Creek and a representative from Upstate For good, outlined the groups’ concerns about the task for the duration of Thursday’s assembly.
“This is a undertaking that no one particular in the community asked for,” Holleman stated.
He described the pipeline extension as “environmentally mistaken-headed” and accused Piedmont Pure Fuel of demonstrating a “stunning absence of transparency.”
Holleman said the pipeline could hurt an environmentally fragile ecosystem that is property to bunched arrowhead, which is labeled by federal officers as an endangered plant. He also warned that the pipeline would inspire much more improvement in what is a largely rural region.
In accordance to a presentation ready by Upstate Forever, Piedmont Purely natural Gasoline forecasts that its client base in northern Greenville County will mature by 2,400 households. But Upstate Eternally contends that the enterprise wishes to make a pipeline with a significantly bigger ability than is required to meet that new demand from customers.
Brooks Smith, who lives near Tourists Rest, reported at Thursday’s meeting that she and her neighbors “vehemently oppose additional progress.”
Smith stated she and 35 landowners who oppose the pipeline extension banded jointly to variety Good friends of Beaverdam Creek after land agents commenced looking for permission to survey their land. She claimed some of the landowners obtained baffling and misleading information about the surveys.
“People today felt helpless,” she mentioned.
Commission member Tom Ervin, whose district includes northern Greenville County, urged Piedmont Normal Gasoline to “harmony growth with adverse impacts” when analyzing the pipeline extension.
“I am hopeful that the business will exercise fantastic judgment and discretion and get a close look at this undertaking,” he stated.
But Ervin also stated the community services fee lacks the authority to block the pipeline extension.
Kirk Brown handles authorities, progress and politics for The Greenville News. Get to him at kebrown@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @KirkBrown_Intention.
This posting initially appeared on Greenville Information: Inspite of opposition, purely natural fuel pipeline stays in plans for northern Greenville County
