Pipeline hub in NEPA: Part II: Getting involved

The proposed Penn East natural gas pipeline we blogged about last week will be a significant large-scale earth moving project with impacts to numerous communities, waterways, and public and private lands along its 108-mile route. Here, we've covered some of the how and why of getting involved in this process.

Q: What's a scoping meeting?
FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) will host public meetings on the Penn East pipeline called scoping meetings (we'll be at the one on Thursday, February 12 in Wilkes-Barre). These meetings are a key opportunity for concerned citizens, affected landowners, conservation, historical, and environmental organizations, and any members of the public, to speak and offer input about the impacts and scope of the project, and to identify what environmental issues should be studied further.

From FERC: "The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the Commission to take into account the environmental impacts that could result...and to discover and address concerns the public may have about proposals.The main goal of the scoping process is to focus the analysis in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the important environmental issues."

Q: I'm not an expert. What kind of comments can I provide?
Whether you walk along the banks of the Susquehanna River, paddle or hike one of the affected state parks or forests, or are concerned about the cumulative impacts of gas infrastructure, keep in mind that the pipeline company and FERC don't know your community and waterways like you do. You can review the maps and documents, note concerns, and document them. Your input can be a written submission or spoken (3-5 minutes at the public meetings) and it becomes part of the formal record of the project that FERC must consider. And this is the first of several opportunities to weigh in throughout the FERC process.

Q: Does my voice matter?
Yes! It's why we do what we do -- we're all stakeholders in our communities. As our friends at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) like to say: "As in nature, we have strength in numbers." Our legal and policy staff will be submitting comments about what the scope of the EIS should be. If you search using the FERC docket number below, you can scroll through the numerous comments already submitted. Remember: it's your voice.

Relevant documents:
Notice of Intent 
Docket No. PF15-1-000, PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC. The first .pdf document is the entire 333-page filing along with route maps.
FERC FAQs on gas pre-filing process
E-comments page for individuals submitting comments. If you are an organization, you must use the e-filing form. 

Kate Gibbons is the northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Wilkes-Barre.

Pipeline hub in NEPA: Part 1

The part of northeastern Pennsylvania south of the heavily drilled Susquehanna and Wyoming counties has until now not seen large-scale gas infrastructure. But as anyone who is following this knows, hold on: That's starting to change in a big way.

Here in Wilkes-Barre, there’s a lot of discussion going on about five proposed pipelines which will all cross Luzerne County. The PennEast pipeline is one of those: It's a 36-inch diameter, 108-mile long pipeline that will create a 100-foot wide construction right-of way and cross and impact the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Lehigh rivers and dozens of quality streams, wetlands, and forests.

Uneasy about how this and other large projects will impact our communities and water statewide? We are, too, especially around how cumulative effects of these projects may reverse progress we've all made for Pennsylvanians' clean water. PennFuture collaborates with many organizations in its work leading two state coalitions protecting both the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers' 27,000-square-mile watersheds in Pennsylvania -- both to be impacted by pipelines.

In recent comment letters on another proposed pipeline, the Atlantic Sunrise project, we addressed forest fragmentation, species displacement, danger to waterways, and methane emissions -- and noted that the pipeline will disturb swaths of state forest, game lands, and public lands. That project will run 192 miles through Pennsylvania, including this region, and have similar large-scale effects. Similarly, we'll be submitting analysis of the impacts of the proposed PennEast at a hearing in Wilkes-Barre on February 12. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, oversees the process and holds public meetings to take community input along the proposed route. (UPDATE: FERC postponed two January hearings; please visit www.ferc.gov for updates.)

All of us as citizens can and should weigh in -- by sending comments to FERC online or by mail, or by speaking at the upcoming February hearings in Bethlehem, Jim Thorpe, and Wilkes-Barre. New to this process and have questions? FERC’s pages on citizen involvement are one resource; for more information, we'll be posting more next week in this space (or you can always email us). We recommend reviewing the route map, although a quick perusal shows that the map isn't detailed and has deficiencies that we expect others will also point out to FERC next month.

All hearings conducted by FERC begin at 6:00 p.m., and representatives of PennEast will attend one hour before to answer questions. We support your involvement.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Northampton Community College
3835 Green Pond Road
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Penn’s Peak
325 Maury Road
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania

Thursday, February 12, 2015
Best Western Hotel & Conference Center
77 E Market Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Kate Gibbons is PennFuture's northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and based in Wilkes-Barre.