COLUMBIANA CO. Gas pipeline builders seek cooperation

Landowners will be notified within 30 days of a crew's arrival, a spokesman said.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- The three companies seeking to build a natural gas pipeline here do not want confrontation with landowners during upcoming surveying or any other part of the pipeline construction, a spokesman said.
Surveying will start in western Ohio counties and progress eastward, said Joe Martucci, a spokesman for Independence Pipeline Corp., a partnership of National Fuel Gas Supply Co., Williams Transco, El Paso Corp., and ANR, an El Paso Corp. subsidiary responsible for pipeline construction.
Martucci said he could not estimate when the surveying would begin or when crews would reach Columbiana County.
Landowners and pipeline companies have varying opinions about whether surveying can be done without landowners' permission.
"We have been building pipelines for 50 years and our view is the language is very clear both in the Ohio statues and the Natural Gas Act, which is federal law," Martucci said.
"We have said let's not make a confrontational issue out of this. The media has taken comments out of context and made this confrontational."
What's planned: Martucci said the surveying is required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which approved the project last July. If there are any outright refusals of access, Independence representatives will deal with them as they come along, he said.
Independence representatives will call or visit landowners two days before any surveying, he said. Landowners will receive written notice of the pending activity within 30 days of a crew's arrival, he said.
Martucci said the tone of the letter to landowners is one of cooperation, with the partnership limiting surveying to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and inviting landowners or their representatives to accompany the Independence representatives while they work.
He said five crews will conduct environmental and engineering surveying on property along the proposed route from Defiance to Leidy, Pa. Locally the pipeline will cross Stark and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Butler and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania.
While most of the natural gas from Canada will be transported to Eastern markets, some could remain in the area, Martucci said. There would be tap-ins for commercial and industrial customers along the way if deals are struck, he said.
Martucci said the surveys are one of many conditions of the FERC's approval that must be met before pipeline construction can proceed. Another is that the partnership must secure contracts for at least 68 percent of 36-inch pipeline capacity. Currently the company has secured about 38 percent, he said.
Columbiana County Sheriff Dave Smith said Chris Hathorne, an Independence land manager, has agreed to meet with him, county Prosecutor Robert Herron and other interested parties before any surveying occurs in the county.
Smith contacted Hathorne after some landowners told him they will resort to violence to keep surveyors off their property. Some have contacted the local unorganized militia for support, he said.
John Garwood, president of Columbiana County Landowners Association, which opposes the pipeline, said the association condemns any notion of armed resistance or any other violence against surveyors or any other pipeline representatives.