Commonwealth Pipeline

[Mike]

Has anyone seen a detailed map of a proposed route or segments thereof through the portions of Schuylkill, Berks, and southern Chester Co through which it will cross if built? I am trying to find one. I have seen such a map for the northern Chester Co portion, so I am wondering about the rest of the route.

 

[TYoung]

What's this pipeline?

 

[afishinado]

TYoung wrote:
What's this pipeline?

Here is a link to an article on the pipeline: http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2013/01/02/region/doc50e4c44e9b139953190241.txt

Here is an excerpt from the article:

...More specifically, the proposal being discussed in Warwick was a 30-inch natural gas transmission line from Lycoming County through Berks and into the vicinity of Eagle in Chester County.

In Chester County, township officials have said the proposed route would take the Commonwealth Pipeline through French Creek State Park, The Hopewell Big Woods, Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines and across at least four “exceptional value streams,” including two branches of French Creek....A collection of pipelines and two compressor stations, the natural gas equivalent of a pump station, are located in West Vincent and Upper Uwchlan....


Ha Ha...yall thought MS just effected the hayseeds and hilljacks up north!! ;-)

BTW, I live right a few hundred yards from Eagle and in Upper Uwchlan township.

And here's one for the Central PAers: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/03/ugis_commonwealth_pipeline_wou.html

From the link:

“The 30-inch Commonwealth Pipeline would pass somewhere east of Harrisburg and west of Lancaster……the 39-mile MARC1 pipeline project through Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming counties was proposed to run north-south as is expected to cross more than 100 streams, many of them high quality. It would go through 41 wetlands, clear over 300 acres of forest and require the destruction of more than 200,000 mature trees…..it essentially opens up unbroken forest and turns it into an industrial zone…”

 

[JackM]

Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines....

Personal Senior Care for your horsie!

 

[sandfly]

to old to eat i guess !! or feed my dog !

 

[Mike]

Suddenly, the statewide unassessed wild trout waters survey program may look pretty good to those few individuals who were challenging its utility, especially if they thought Marcellus play impacts would be limited to the area under which Marcellus shale actually rests. You never quite know in advance where ALL potential impacts of the play will occur.

 

[osprey]

The whole play in Marcellus was to get to you down easters $$$$$$

 

[Chaz]

I think Vic found one, and he said he would send it to me. We were going to fish the streams it crosses to see if we find wild trout in them.
IT is disturbing to me that the line is going as far south as Baltimore, that means the gas is going overseas.
There are still no vehicles designed to run on Natural gas, what's up with that?

 

[bikerfish]

welcome to our world, enjoy your new pipeline.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

While the proposed Commonwealth Pipeline may in fact be a "new" pipeline I assure you that natural gas has been leaving Lycoming County in route to Chester County for decades.

I know because I rented equipment to the contractors that rebuilt the existing pipeline in the late 1980's, and I sold equipment to Sun Pipeline in Williamsport that was shuttled back and forth between Williamsport and Honeybrook depending on the work that needed to be done.

Honestly, how do you think your stove or furnace works if you use natural gas? It has to come from somewhere into your home, right?

As you travel PA's hgihways and byways take note of the 50 to 100 yard wide clear paths through woods and fields and see if you don't see a few white pipes with orange caps near the road crossings. Those are valves for gas lines folks. And it is generally much easier in terms of cost for new pipelines to follow the same paths of existing pipelines.

Yes the line will be moved a few yards east or west of the existing line, but they ain't going go at this from scratch unless they have money to burn.

And as far as the gas going to Baltimore it has to either leave the country to be converted to motor fuel or it will have to converted in the proposed and yet to be built plant on the Chesapeake Bay.

That is the problem with natural gas that all this drilling has done nothing to reduce. In actuality it has only served to enhance the problem by introducing a glut of natural gas into a system that relies primarily on immediate consumption to use the gas.

I said this all along and it looks like it is finally becoming reality, but the fact is that natural gas is only of value when it it is in the ground. Once it is freed it loses value quickly unless producers can find an alternate outlet for it.

Seems like they are now actively pursuing alternate outlets? I submit that you ain't seem nothing yet.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[pcray1231]

IT is disturbing to me that the line is going as far south as Baltimore, that means the gas is going overseas.

Not that I'm saying zero will. But a VERY small % will go overseas. Gas is hard to transport that way. We export a very small % of our gas. We inport very little as well. Of that which is exported or imported, most of it is to or from Canada and Mexico via pipeline. The remainder which goes on boats is an almost insignificant amount.

To transport it, you gotta pressurize it far more than is typical in our pipeline system, which costs $$$$. Even pressurized, the energy/volume ratio is still only about half that of gasoline. When trasnporting energy by truck/train/boat, the $ per unit energy for transportation is triple or quadruple what it is for gasoline. It just doesn't make sense economically unless it's via pipeline.

I'm sure the push to Baltimore is either to reach more end users who don't currently have it, or reach processing plants. Perhaps both. Most of it goes to power plants, not homes. You gotta get it to the plant.

There are still no vehicles designed to run on Natural gas, what's up with that?

Umm, yes there are. Ford, GM, and Dodge all had CNG vehicles available to the public, but I think they got rid of them. Honda still has em. It has not been popular on the consumer market. Low range, not enough refueling stations, tank takes most of your trunk. You can get home systems, but they must pressurize, so it takes hours to refuel, and the equipment (compressors) are expensive.

It has been fairly popular on fleet vehicles and mass transit. Many bus systems, for instance, use CNG.

The biggest impact of the nationwide shale boom is centralized power generation. As energy demand increases, the vast majority of new capacity has been gas fired. And it's beyond that, gas plants aren't only fueling the increased demand, but replacing existing demand as well. Lots of coal plants have gone offline, and the coal industry is hurting pretty bad. Gas is replacing coal as our primary source of energy in the U.S.

 

[jdaddy]

Mike wrote:
Suddenly, the statewide unassessed wild trout waters survey program may look pretty good to those few individuals who were challenging its utility, especially if they thought Marcellus play impacts would be limited to the area under which Marcellus shale actually rests. You never quite know in advance where ALL potential impacts of the play will occur.

We have been very involved in Berks stream assessments, reporting testing weekly. Having said that, this pipeline pretty much runs through my backyard and frankly I am cool with a 30 inch line running through Berks. There are plenty of lines already running through here. In a ,"whats in it for me" approach, fund grants for monitoring and improvement and keep my ng rates low and we are all good.

 

[KeithS]

Osprey wrote : The whole play in Marcellus was to get to you down easters $$$$$$"

You mean those of us in Portland and Kennebunkport?

 

[osprey]

No , I mean EasternPA , Baltomore , D.C. PHILLY ETC. Residential customers by the mllions but you have to get it there first=PIPELINES.

 

[barbless]

Apparently, in-state natural gas storage is at capacity.

http://triblive.com/news/2101586-74/gas-storage-producers-pennsylvania-capacity-natural-energy-roberts-fuel-state#axzz2Okpp5gKP

 

[McSneek]

barbless wrote:
Apparently, in-state natural gas storage is at capacity.

That article is from July 2012. Typically underground gas stores would be at capacity in the summer when gas is not needed for heating purposes.

 

[Chaz]

I think in most cases they liquify Nat. Gas to tranport it long distances, but with the glut of Nat. gas it will be exported.