Official: Gas line deal back on

By Sarah Hite shite@timesleader.comStaff Writer

DALLAS TWP. – A township official announced Tuesday an agreement with Williams Gathering LLC to construct part of a natural gas gathering line is back on, and a potential agreement with another company, Chief Gathering LLC, may also be in the works.

At the supervisors’ July 19 meeting, Solicitor Thomas Brennan said negotiations with Williams about its planned pipeline project were at an impasse. Brennan said the reason for the stalemate was related to whether natural gas pipelines were addressed in the township’s subdivision and land development ordinance.

“Subsequently, after the meeting, I was contacted by Williams and was told they intend to vigorously pursue subdivision and land development approval,” he said.

Brennan admitted the company felt that announcing an impasse was “premature.”

He also said that shortly after last month’s meeting Chief had contacted Brennan to discuss a potential agreement about its pipeline plans.

“From my perspective, I would address the same points and principles with Chief that I have with Williams,” he said.

Both companies are planning pipelines from Susquehanna County through Wyoming County to end in Dallas Township, where both will tap into the Transco interstate pipeline near the Dallas School District campus.

Both companies also have plans for metering stations to be built near the Transco tap-in site.

Continued zoning hearings for Chief’s application for special exceptions will be held at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 and 30 in Insalaco Hall at Misericordia University.

Williams has not requested a zoning hearing at this time, but the company has begun to lay out its pipeline plans before the Township Planning Commission. That group will meet at 7 p.m. Aug. 9 in the municipal building.

The board also heard comments from Northmoreland Township resident Wayne Weaver, who has leased land to Chief and has right-of-way easements with Williams.

Williams was recently granted final approval from the Wyoming County Planning Commission to build a metering station on 5 � acres of land off Schoolhouse Road.

Weaver said the company’s projects will benefit the area, and he didn’t understand how the township’s zoning laws could hold up the project of “multibillion-dollar corporations.”

But resident Duke Barrett said “Why do (the gas companies) get to tell the majority of the people here, as opposed to the minority of those who have leased, what goes on? That’s not democracy.”