Independence amends original application with FERC

SALEM — The partnership proposing the Independence Pipeline amended its application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in December, making a minor route change in the Stark/Summit county area and a major route change at the eastern end of the pipeline near Clarion, Pa.



The proposed pipeline will now be 400 miles of 36-inch diameter pipe. The project also includes the construction of two 15,000 hp turbines in a new compressor station adjacent to an existing Defiance compressor station.



A second compressor station will be constructed in Canaan Township in Wayne County and a third compressor station is planned in Porter Township, Clarion County, Pa.



The amended application has one 10-mile and approximately 73 smaller reroutes of the pipeline in Ohio. The 10-mile reroute is around the Akron/Canton airport and follows existing Ohio Edison and East Ohio Gas rights-of-way. The smaller routing changes were made to avoid residential properties and to reduce impacts to woodlots, farmland and wetlands, according to the application.



The major Pennsylvania reroute is roughly 100 miles from Clarion eastward and includes 40 miles along an existing right-of-way corridor.



Independence has also been talking with East Ohio Gas Company and Columbia Gas Transmission Company about tapping into the proposed pipeline. The revised application includes four taps where Independence’s facilities would cross East Ohio and Columbia facilities in Ohio and one tap where the line crosses National Fuel facilities in Pennsylvania.



The pipeline will cross the following Ohio counties: Defiance, Henry, Wood, Seneca, Huron, Ashland, Summit, Wayne, Stark and Columbiana. In Pennsylvania, it will cross Lawrence, Butler, Armstrong, Clarion, Jefferson, Elk, Forest, McKean, Cameron, Potter and Clinton counties.



Roughly 52 percent of the path parallels existing highway, pipeline or power transmission line rights-of way. The average permanent right-of-way will be 50 feet wide (an additional 25 to 50 feet may be part of a temporary construction right-of-way).



The amendment also adds third partner to the project, Seneca Independence Pipeline Co., an affiliate of National Fuel Gas Supply Corp.