[O]pponents of a 41-mile natural gas pipeline currently under construction say its owners have buried the structure beneath wetlands that were not included in the company’s permit.
A biologist hired by Bristol-based attorney James Dumont, who represents several Hinesburg residents fighting the pipeline, found what she described as wetland vegetation and soil, and possibly the location of wetland water features, adjacent to the new Vermont Gas Systems pipeline. The site is in Hinesburg on property owned by the University of Vermont.
Dumont on Friday asked the Agency of Natural Resources to determine whether the pipeline has been laid through any wetlands other than those included in the permit.
The agency will look at the site to determine whether it contains wetlands, said Agency of Natural Resources wetlands program manager Laura Lapierre.
The agency’s foremost concern with regard to wetlands is to maintain their net area, function and value, she said. Vermont Gas has disturbed multiple wetlands in the course of building the pipeline, as was allowed in its permit, and the company must either restore these areas or protect or restore other wetlands in the state, she said.
If an investigation finds that a penalty is justified, Lapierre said, the agency probably would prefer it involve wetlands protection or restoration measures.
“We’re definitely not jumping to enforcement or anything like that at this time,” Lapierre said.
Vermont Gas representatives refute Dumont’s assertion. Beth Parent, spokesperson for the company says the claims are “merit less” and are another attempt by opponents to scuttle the pipeline.
“This is the latest in what’s become a yearslong back-and-forth by pipeline opponents looking for any opportunity to stop this important clean energy project,” Parent said.
Evidence suggests the wetlands in question actually lie outside the project’s right of way and outside the area affected by the project, Parent said. In fact, she said, contractors resurveyed the parcel in March and found nothing that wasn’t included in the original permit.
Burlington-based environmental biologist April Moulaert earlier reported finding another area of unrecorded wetlands near the pipeline, which Vermont Gas says it intends to complete this year. The company just won access to the last parcel of land it needs to cross.
“There was an area directly adjacent to the pipeline that clearly had wetland vegetation and soils … and likely has (wetland water characteristics) as well,” Moulaert wrote to Dumont after visiting the site that is the current focus.
Moulaert said she visited at the driest part of the year and recommended a visit in the spring to make a better identification.
Moulaert in July identified wetlands in Hinesburg’s Geprags Park — which the pipeline is to cross — that appeared to have been left out of the permit.
After that find, Dumont asked the Public Service Board to rescind Vermont Gas Systems’ permit. Dumont said at the time that the permit says the company must have secured all necessary permits before beginning work. Since Vermont Gas did not have a permit addressing those wetlands, Dumont argued, the company was in violation.
But the Public Service Board determined Vermont Gas needed no new permit because it agreed to drill horizontally beneath the wetlands instead of digging a trench. The company has already laid the pipeline in a trench through the most recently questioned site.
The 41-mile pipeline extension to Addison County is now expected to cost $165.6 million, after having originally been estimated in 2013 to cost around $86 million. Ratepayers, according to an agreement the company reached last year with the Department of Public Service, would need to cover $134 million of that.
The project has struggled to secure access to the planned route and attracted protests from environmental activists who oppose expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
