Vermont Gas Systems has applied for Public Service Board approval for a natural gas pipeline expansion from Middlebury to the International Paper Mill in Ticonderoga, N.Y.
The application for Phase 2 of the Addison-Rutland pipeline proposal is a follow-up to a 43-mile, $86.6 million natural gas pipeline plan that would connect Colchester to Addison County. The board has yet to rule on Phase 1, which is opposed by a group of landowners in Monkton.
The company says the second phase of the pipeline expansion would build the necessary infrastructure to bring natural gas to Rutland 15 years sooner than if it were not approved. The Rutland piece is Phase 3, which the company hopes to complete by 2020.
International Paper would help pay for the 10-inch transmission line under Lake Champlain, offsetting an expected $45 million for Vermont Gas members, a news release stated.
Don Gilbert, president and CEO of Vermont Gas, said in a news release that the pipeline would cut heating costs and create jobs in the region.
“The Addison-Rutland Natural Gas Project will help homeowners and businesses in Addison and Rutland counties cut heating costs by about 50 percent, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 25 percent,” Gilbert said in the release.
The second phase of the project would service the towns of Cornwall and Shoreham en route to the International Paper Mill, the news release stated. The company hopes to complete that portion by 2015.
The Cornwall Selectboard has opposed the second phase, which would install a pipeline from U.S. 7 in Middlebury west through the town before crossing under Lake Champlain and into New York.
The quasi-judicial Public Service Board must approve any gas lines that pass through Vermont, as well as the construction of electric transmission and generation facilities, as part of the state’s Section 248 process.
The Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) is an environmental advocacy group that has opposed the pipeline expansion because Vermont Gas sources some of its gas from hydraulic fracturing, a process they say damages surrounding land and causes pollution.
In a news release Monday, VPIRG said the public overwhelmingly opposes the project. More than 90 percent of the 2,000 comments submitted to the PSB during the approval process opposed the project, according to VPIRG.
“Vermont Gas seems to be taking it for granted that their fracked gas pipeline will be approved. But given the growing number of people and organizations stepping up to oppose the project, and the strong objections they are raising, this is a gamble that the Board should reject,” said Paul Burns, executive director of VPIRG.
