With the clock ticking until the "automatic" state approval of a natural gas pipeline, the
company building it did what it had to and not much more.
People whose land would be impacted by the Oregon Lateral natural gas pipeline protested at meetings,
engaged their representatives and emerged last week with a series of recommendations from the Ohio Power
Siting Board about how project representatives should address their concerns.
Clearly interested in altering the route to avoid their property, individual landowners suggested
different ways to shift the line, which would run 22 miles from Maumee, across the river and into
Perrysburg before traveling through other Wood County communities, bound for a new power plant in
Oregon.
A little less than seven miles would go through Perrysburg Township. About three miles would run through
both Perrysburg and Northwood, with smaller portions planned in Rossford, Lake Township and Walbridge
before the line reaches Oregon.
Included in 26 OPSB conditions accommodating environmental and roadway concerns and stipulating working
conditions, the regulatory agency responsible for approving the project ordered North Coast Gas
Transmission to outline its response to residents’ requests to adjust the route of the pipeline. A final
condition was added Monday, requiring the company to be "open and responsive" to concerns that
the line should run a certain way through individual parcels.
The company’s lawyers responded Friday, asserting in a document that they reviewed nearly all suggestions
but generally found them to be unreasonable given the cost or circumstance. Calculations that informed
those claims were not included in detail.
Attorneys wrote that "fundamental disagreements appear to exist over the general placement of the
pipeline on a property, which has hampered productive conversations" with some landowners.
"These types of disagreements exist in almost every pipeline project, and NCGT remains committed to
attempting to engage in a dialogue with these affected landowners and negotiating right-of-ways with
these landowners."
As required in the siting board’s stipulations for the project, the company stated it would conduct a
public information meeting this month but did not provide a date.
The project application was slated for automatic approval if not suspended by the board chairman or
executive director, or a judge, by 5:30 p.m. Monday, according to Matt Butler, spokesman for the power
siting board. Butler was not available Monday night or this morning to confirm the approval, but he said
earlier Monday that he was not aware of any intent to suspend the case.
Butler said that many of the routing concerns are specific to each landowner’s parcel, making it a part
of future right-of-way acquisition discussions, not part of the overall route approval. OPSB has no role
in those negotiations, he said.
The way the process played out is not sitting well with State Rep. Tim Brown and State Sen. Randy Garner,
local representatives who worked with property owners to get their concerns heard. They thought it was a
victory last week when the company agreed, among the other conditions, to either incorporate their route
suggestions or explain why it couldn’t be done.
"They have not done enough to properly review what I think were some very practical requests by the
property owners," Brown said Monday night, noting that he had not yet fully reviewed the company’s
41-page response. "I also believe that the Ohio Power Siting Board was clear that they should take
seriously those suggestions for improvement, and I think we want to hold the pipeline company to that
agreement and that requirement."
Gardner was not available for comment and had not closely reviewed the document either, according to an
aide, but released a brief statement and passed along his own sustained concerns to the power siting
board.
"I am disappointed that not enough has been done to resolve residents’ concerns regarding the
pipeline project," Gardner stated. "This process is not over. There is more work to do to see
that citizens and businesses are treated fairly."
The project stands to put people to work, "but we can’t exchange one economic development endeavor
to the detriment of others," Brown said.
Pipelines not only create potential hazards to residents and long-term crop and soil problems for
farmers, but once installed, they harm the development value of the land where they’re buried. Permanent
easements required of landowners generally prevent placing structures on top of pipelines.
Such a scenario nearly derailed Costco’s plans to build in Perrysburg, as it took many months for the
company to negotiate with Columbia Gas to move a natural gas pipe underneath the horse farm property
where it chose to build its store near Ohio 25 and Eckel Junction Road.
The Oregon pipeline is set to run through parts of Wood County which are ripe for development with access
to utilities and area highways, both big factors as companies seek sites to build.
"I don’t think we can sit back and allow that kind of degradation to some of this prime property for
development in Wood County," Brown said.
"I think they’ve got to pay attention to that concern."
Brown acknowledged that he’s troubled by the automatic approval process, which he said was put into place
to help get fracking operations up and running.
"While being helpful to that industry, I think that if the legislature got it wrong on the
procedure, we have an obligation to take a look at it and make sure the approval process works for all
concerned."