[V]ermont Gas will begin work on the final 2,000 feet of a natural gas pipeline into Addison County “as soon as possible,” following the lifting of a stay by the Vermont Supreme Court that until Thursday forbade the company from laying the last remaining section of pipe beneath Geprags Park in Hinesburg.
The Supreme Court lifted the stay on construction because justices felt that there’s a good chance Vermont Gas will prevail in the case before that body, brought by Bristol-based attorney Jim Dumont on behalf of numerous Hinesburg residents.
“This order is great news for the thousands of families and businesses in Addison County who are waiting for natural gas service,” said Vermont Gas Systems spokeswoman Beth Parent. The company is finalizing an arrangement with its contractor, who will begin building the sole remaining section of the pipeline “as soon as possible,” Parent said.
Dumont’s suit claims that the Public Service Board improperly awarded Vermont Gas eminent domain authority over an easement through Geprags Park. The Geprags family gave the land to Hinesburg with the condition that it be used only for recreational or educational purposes, and a natural gas pipeline satisfies neither condition, Dumont has said.
A Vermont legal doctrine allowing eminent domain over public land to only a single party also forbids Vermont Gas from acquiring an easement through Geprags Park, where the Vermont Electric Cooperative has already secured an easement for electrical lines, Dumont says in his suit.
The suit automatically instituted a stay on construction through the park; the stay’s lifting Thursday means Vermont Gas may proceed at will to build the final 2,000 feet of the 41-mile pipeline within the 100-foot-wide easement the Public Service Board granted the company this summer.
The court’s lifting of the stay on construction does not mean Vermont Gas has won the suit, and the move “does not have any impact on our later consideration of the merits of the underlying appeal,” justices noted.
The pipeline will be installed using a horizontal drill, which will place the pipeline 30 to 50 feet below the surface of the park without disturbing the surface itself. Should anything go wrong, or should Vermont Gas be required to pull the pipeline out in the event Dumont wins his case, Hinesburg possesses a $1 million bond secured for such purposes, the justices said.
Vermont Gas has promised to “return the park to its pre-drill condition,” should it lose the case Dumont initiated, the order states.
Vermont Gas has also agreed to pay the state of Vermont a $95,000 civil penalty for safety violations that occurred while the company built its 41-mile natural gas pipeline into Addison County, according to the terms of an agreement the Public Service Board approved Thursday.
The fine stems from a recommendation by the Department of Public Service in September that asked the Public Service Board to assess a $150,000 penalty against the company.
The DPS signed a memorandum of understanding with Vermont Gas Nov. 9 that forestalled the need for such an order from the board, and the board approved the MOU Thursday.
The department initiated proceedings against Vermont Gas this fall in response to a safety violation that took place over the summer.
While welding pieces of the pipeline extension in July, Vermont Gas contractors failed to properly ground the pipe sections, DPS Commissioner Chris Recchia said in September.
The pipeline’s proximity to a VEC power line meant that magnetic currents given off by the power line could energize the pipeline as it was under construction, through a phenomenon called “induced current,” Recchia said.
Vermont Gas Systems had agreed with the state to abide by certain procedures to prevent such a situation, but the company’s contractors did not follow the agreed-upon methods, Recchia said. That does not mean Vermont Gas Systems did not observe any appropriate safety precautions, he said, but only that the company failed to follow specifically those agreed upon with the state.
Both the DPS and Vermont Gas agree in the memorandum — and Parent emphasized in an email Friday — that the violation did not at any time endanger the public. DPS staffers have monitored the pipeline’s construction in person “every day they’ve been installing” it, Recchia said in an interview Friday.
Recchia said that Vermont Gas appears generally to show “extreme attention to safety,” and said that was one consideration that led his department to stipulate a $95,000 fine against Vermont Gas in its MOU rather than the $150,000 the department originally sought.
The pipeline should be pumping natural gas within 15 weeks, Parent said.
Dumont did not immediately return a call for comment on the orders Friday afternoon.
