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Gas pipeline foes vow to delay project

CLEVELAND — Northeast Ohio residents who have tried to get a natural gas pipeline moved away from their communities are vowing to engage in delay tactics after a federal agency dismissed their suggested alternate routes.

Opponents say they will not allow surveys or sell easements for the $2 billion NEXUS Gas Transmission project unless ordered to do so by a court.

“I will stand my ground, as everyone else is standing, until all of our resources and options are exhausted,” said Medina County resident Jon Strong, who has helped lead the effort to reroute the pipeline the last two and a half years.

The 255-mile-long line would carry gas from Appalachia across a gas processing plant near Kensington in Columbiana County  and into Michigan and Canada. Most of the high-pressured line would be in Ohio. Construction is slated to begin by March.

Federal law gives companies wide latitude to build interstate pipelines, and NEXUS Gas officials say the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s environmental impact study was a milestone move forward on the plans. Company spokesman Adam Parker said the alternate routes would take the pipeline away from its market areas and “does not accomplish the project’s purpose and need.”

The company’s last regulatory hurdle is winning a certificate of public convenience and necessity, which the company expects to get in early 2017. It also must complete surveys for the proposed route and pay land owners to bury the line on their properties.

The most fervent opposition has been centered in Medina and Summit counties, where opponents say the pipeline will come too close to homes and businesses. Officials in Green in southern Summit County provided three alternative routes to the commission to move the pipeline away from their city.

Green spokeswoman Valerie Wolford said the proposed route would be near schools and would cross backyards and a city park with sports fields. She added that residents are worried about the possibility of an explosion.

“It’s something we have to think about,” Wolford said. “You have to prepare for the worst.”

Green hasn’t allowed surveyors onto city property and won’t sell easements until forced to do so, Wolford said.

Parker said the company has completed 95 percent of its needed surveys and has been negotiating with property owners to acquire easements.

“We’re continuing to work with land owners along the route,” he said.

The pipeline is a partnership between Houston-based Spectra Energy and Detroit’s DTE Energy. The NEXUS pipeline was designed to carry gas to customers in Ohio and Michigan and to the Dawn Hub, a massive underground storage and gas trading facility Spectra owns in Ontario, Canada. A $28 billion merger between Spectra and Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Energy is expected to be completed early next year with the combined companies headquartered in Calgary.

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