Constitution Pipeline receives federal approval, eminent domain power
“The Constitution Pipeline received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build a 124-mile natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania through New York’s Delaware, Schoharie, Broome and Chenango counties on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
FERC’s certificate of public convenience and necessity gives the Constitution Pipeline the power of eminent domain, which allows it to force landowners along the route to accept the pipeline’s path through their property.
The pipeline’s new powers are setting it up for a fight in the Catskills. Over half of the landowners along the route haven’t agreed to allow the pipeline across their land. If they continue to resist, the pipeline can take them to court.
Construction can begin as soon as the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issue permits for the project, which could happen early in 2015.
According to its backers, a group of energy companies that includes Williams, Cabot Oil & Gas, Piedmont Natural Gas, and WGL Holdings, the Constitution Pipeline will create a large number of temporary construction jobs, a dozen full-time jobs after it is built, and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the counties it passes through,
It will also bring natural gas hookups to some communities and businesses in the Catskills, including Amphenol, the county’s largest employer.”
Reischel, Julia. Watershed Post 3 December 2014.