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Local, county and state officials try to bring natural gas lines to residents of Poland Township
POLAND
Local, county and state officials have joined township residents in lobbying Dominion East Ohio to extend natural-gas lines to a section in the eastern part of the township near the Pennsylvania line that does not have gas service.
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, and Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, along with township trustees and about 25 residents, met Tuesday night with representatives of Dominion East to try to figure out how natural-gas service can be brought to the area, which includes more than 30 residences and several businesses along U.S. Route 224.
Residents expressed frustration with Dominion, saying they went through the process of applying for service two years ago and that the company did not follow through.
Representatives for the company offered apologies but few answers.
“It is my responsibility to come out here and say the ball was dropped,” said Tracy Stevens, a Dominion representative.
“I apologize on behalf of the company for not having more answers for you at this time,” she said.
The issue was first raised in 2012, when the township trustees sent a letter to residents of the area seeking input about whether they would be interested in getting gas service.
While Dominion representatives did not offer an explanation about why the issue was not resolved in 2012, they said it is now their top priority and asked all those who want to natural-gas service to go through the application process again.
“I feel like we’re on a merry-go-round,” said Margie Rodriguez, a resident of Styme Road who submitted an application in 2012. “We already did that. We did that two years ago.”
Gas lines extend along Route 224 from both directions, but do not extend to the section of 224 from Struthers Road to the Pennsylvania line, or to the streets that branch off 224 in this section, including Kennedy, Quarry, Lowellville and Styme roads.
“Dominion gas has kind of held these residents hostage on extending the line,” said John Kotchmar, whose home on Styme Road and business on Route 224 are affected. “Have some compassion for these people, who are blue collar, who are living under the shadow of a landfill, and do something good for those who you will profit from in the future.”
Homeowners in the area use propane, wood burners, electric, coal and fuel oil to heat their homes, all of which cost significantly more than gas.
Stevens and Jason Wilson, a customer-operations supervisor for the company, said they could not provide customers with an estimated cost for installing a line because they first need to know how many people want to participate.
Dominion East would not bear the cost of putting in a line, another issue about which residents are concerned.
Schiavoni and Traficanti said they are looking into funding options from a variety of sources.
“I’ll work on my end on dealing with the state folks,” Schiavoni said.
Traficanti said he plans to look into funding from the Ohio Public Works Commission, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, the Western Reserve Port Authority, other state entities and private corporations such as Hilcorp, and that he will get in touch with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, about the issue.
“Nobody should go broke today because of a utility. That’s crazy,” Traficanti added.
The Dominion East representatives agreed to conduct a survey about which residents want to apply for service, collect applications and have another meeting in six weeks. Stevens said the company should be able to determine the scope of the work by then, and should be able to provide specifics about a projected cost and time line.
“Someone from my team will be sending out information to customers,” Wilson said.
“We’ll be the facilitator,” Trustee Eric Ungaro said. “If there’s something that needs done, we’ll do it. We just want to move forward.”