Piping through amish land

[salmonoid]

Latest Lancaster newspaper article. The possibility of routing around some sensitive natural areas is apparently on the table.

Initial FERC filings, including some more detailed maps.


In addition to my concern about the natural areas, my stake in the game just went up. The proposed pipeline right of way butts up directly against the front of my property; it looks like my house might be included in the right-of-way. The nearest power line is over a quarter of a mile away and the proposed pipeline does not parallel the power line until after passing behind Safe Harbor Village, where it also would cut a wide swath through a nice wooded area surrounding the village, which area I believe the Conservancy also now owns.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Enough is enough. If they can find a route through some barren cornfield wastelands that's fine. Otherwise I am totally against this thing. We have precious few natural areas in Lancaster County and it would be a real shame to mess with any of the areas on this route.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Latest I heard is that alternative routes are now being discussed that would avoid the Tuquan Glen preserve.

 

[salmonoid]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
Latest I heard is that alternative routes are now being discussed that would avoid the Tuquan Glen preserve.

This alternative route is discussed in the Alternatives document in the FERC filing. The part that goes through my house is a bit of an anomaly, in that one of the guiding principles in locating the pipeline was to follow existing right-of-ways wherever possible. They do this for some stretch, paralleling the power line, but for some reason, they deviate from the power line right-of-way for about a four mile stretch.

I thought there might be something in the Clean and Green law that might make farm enrollees think twice about opening up their land to pipeline development, but not surprisingly, there were some amendments and clarifications to the law made in 2010/2011 that exempt pipeline activity from nullifying Clean and Green status and/or only make the acreage of the affected land ineligible for tax relief, instead of the entire land parcel.

The proposed route would also parallel the eastern upslope regions of Donegal Creek. Not that there isn't already tons of agricultural siltation going on there, but time to get that stream surveyed the second time and upgraded to Class A 🙂