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Airport board member Rick Morelli criticizes award of security services’ contract

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Wilkes-Barre’s Third Friday featured artist Helen Kaucher brings handmade jewelry, stamps and giraffes to downtown

<p>DALLAS &#8211; The clock is ticking for landowners in the path of two proposed natural gas transmission pipelines who want to have the routes for the large, high-pressure lines moved away from their properties and businesses.</p><p>They said they would appreciate some help, but their pleas have mostly been ignored by the pipeline companies, and elected officials have offered only token support, some said at a meeting of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition.</p><p>When she brings concerns about a route that would slice through her property to the supervisors in Greenwood Township, Columbia County, &#8220;they just patronize us,&#8221; said Carol Mohr, one of two landowners profiled in the latest episode of the &#8220;Marcellus Shale Reality Tour&#8221; video series, produced by Scott Cannon, the coalition&#8217;s media chairman.</p><p>Cannon said he invited to the Wednesday night&#8217;s meeting officials from every municipality along the two routes that run through Luzerne and adjoining counties as well as members of the state legislature. Only a representative from state Rep. Aaron Kaufer&#8217;s office attended to see the first public viewing of the video and to hear concerns about land use restrictions, lower property values, health and safety.</p><p>Cannon also displayed the latest route revisions for the planned 36-inch diameter PennEast pipeline, including a change in Plains Township that he said moved the line &#8220;away from businesses and toward more homes.&#8221;</p><p>While municipal officials have adopted resolutions opposing the pipeline&#8217;s construction, &#8220;they&#8217;re not continuing their education on changes that arise,&#8221; Cannon said.</p><p>There may not be much time to get up to speed. PennEast Pipeline, a consortium of six gas utilities and transporters including UGI Energy Services, expects to file a formal application by mid-September, at which point route changes will become much more difficult to make, said Patricia Kornick, a spokeswoman for the pipeline. She was contacted Thursday for a response.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re in the pre-filing stage, which is when we can work collaboratively&#8221; with property owners, Kornick said. Once the formal application is filed, &#8220;PennEast will have limited opportunities to make route changes.&#8221;</p><p>Kornick said route changes are made to find &#8220;the safest, most environmentally sound area. It&#8217;s not because it&#8217;s a business or a residence.&#8221;</p><p>She said affected property owners and the township had been notified of the recent change.</p><p>Robert Sax, chairman of the Plains Township Commissioners, said the township was notified of the change by letter about a month ago. He was pleased to see the pipeline would not cross any of the township municipal park in the Hilldale section, as it did in an earlier route.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure there&#8217;s residents it still may be affecting,&#8221; Sax said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a tough fight,&#8221; since the Transco pipeline already passes through the township.</p><p>Two landowners in the route of the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, has at least made pipeline developers respond to their complaints.</p><p>Joan Byron, who with her husband Tom owns about 250 acres off 42nd Street in Dallas Township, said FERC has told pipeline contractor Williams to respond to her suggested rerouting. But there&#8217;s no guarantee the company will agree to a change.</p><p>Linda Quodomine, whose veterinary practice is in the pipeline&#8217;s proposed path in Hemlock Township, Columbia County, said FERC &#8220;forced them to consider&#8221; her suggested route, but the company determined it was not suitable, citing what Quodomine claims was false information.</p><p>Christopher Stockton, a Williams spokesman, said what appears to be incorrect information may simply be outdated. A filing made in March, for example, used data collected through December. What changed in the interim is addressed in a subsequent supplemental filing.</p><p>&#8220;Sometimes it&#8217;s just a matter of the information hasn&#8217;t caught up yet,&#8221; Stockton said.</p><p>Fragmented filings make it harder to make her case, Quodomine said. &#8220;The landowner has to spend a lot of time and effort&#8221; to track down the details of a pipeline proposal, then fact check a company&#8217;s claims and rebut them, she said.</p><p>Williams has already filed a formal application for Atlantic Sunrise, and hopes to begin construction in about a year, putting the pipeline into service by July 2017.</p><p>So far Williams has made about 400 route changes that affect about half the 188-mile route, Stockton said. More will be considered, but the closer to the start of construction, the more difficult they would be to make. While he said nearly 90 percent of the route has been surveyed, he would not disclose how much is covered by right-of-way easement agreements.</p><p>Quodomine said the proposed route would put her out of business for at least 18 months, since the horses she cares for could not tolerate construction noise and can&#8217;t be allowed onto newly seeded land.</p><p>&#8220;I may lose everything,&#8221; she said. But, &#8220;I&#8217;m not going down without a fight.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Scott Cannon, organizer of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, speaks at the Daddow-Isaacs American Legion in Dallas. Looking on is Dr. Linda Quodomine, a horse veterinarian from Hemlock Township, Columbia County who owns property where the proposed Atlantic Sunrise pipeline will traverse. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_coalition02.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scott Cannon, organizer of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, speaks at the Daddow-Isaacs American Legion in Dallas. Looking on is Dr. Linda Quodomine, a horse veterinarian from Hemlock Township, Columbia County who owns property where the proposed Atlantic Sunrise pipeline will traverse. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ron Bartizek</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>See the video</strong></p><p>See Part 12 of the Marcellus Shale Reality Tour at https://youtu.be/ME-7jhvLFww</p></factboxMeta></div>

NEPA property owners affected by proposed gas pipelines seek allies and answers