Residents question pipeline notice

SARAH HITE

shite@timesleader.com

DALLAS TWP. – Residents addressed the board of supervisors Tuesday evening about a state government notification dated in December about the proposed Williams pipeline project.

Diane Dreier, of Dallas, said she had asked the board at its April 5 meeting whether it had received any Act 14 notices from natural gas companies concerning the proposed pipeline project, and Zoning Officer Leonard Kozick had responded that the township did not receive a notice.

Dreier told the board she had been mailed a copy of an Act 14 notice dated Dec. 13, 2010, on behalf of Williams alerting the township of its intention to apply for permits from the state to construct a 33-mile pipeline that will connect to the Transco interstate pipeline in the township.

Solicitor Thomas Brennan said he hadn’t known about the notice until the end of last week. Kozick said he saw it for the first time at the end of March.

Dreier’s concerns were stemmed to the 30-day comment period attached to Act 14 protocol, which allows for the township to respond to the company’s intentions.

“Is the community entitled to know in advance?” she asked the board.

Brennan told her it was an oversight on behalf of the township and assured her Act 14 notices in the future will be made public knowledge.

Township Engineer Tom Doughton said most project paperwork is sent right to the planning commission, despite to whom it may be addressed.

Resident Liz Martin said the oversight was unacceptable, and the fact that the board was not aware and therefore could not alert the public had hindered how the public could react to the project.

“When we have been here, asking questions upon questions about pipelines and metering stations and compressor stations, why wasn’t it mentioned?” she asked.

Martin specifically asked Chairman Phillip Walter why he hadn’t seen it, as the Act 14 notice was addressed to him and was delivered via FedEx.

“Sometimes I don’t see them,” he said.

In other business, Kozick said the zoning office has received submitted land development and subdivision plans Tuesday from Williams for the proposed metering station to be built off Hildebrandt Road. He said he has not looked at them and did not know if the plans had changed at all since they were withdrawn from the township last week.