Pipeline mogul Kinder Morgan is in the process of "abandoning" an existing pipeline facilities in Middle Tennessee that currently transports Natural Gas from the Gulf Coast to consumers in Tennessee and beyond. After the abandonment process is over, Kinder Morgan intends to sell the pipeline facilities to another company that will repurpose the pipeline to deliver Marcellus and Utica shale Natural Gas Liquids from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the Gulf Coast for chemical manufacturing and international export.
Natural Gas Liquids are a byproduct of fracking for Natural Gas and are comprised of a variety of hazardous, toxic and highly combustible chemicals such as ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, and pentane.
You can view a description of the project and the call for scoping comments on the required Federal Environmental Impact Assessment here.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that oversees the permitting of interstate pipelines, is required to produce an Environmental Assessment (EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that addresses the forseeable cumulative and secondary impacts of the project. Comments were due May 18, 2015, but concerned citizens are still encouraged to submit comments and demand an extention of the comment period. Comments should include all forseeable environmental and economic impacts and should request both an extension of the comment period and public hearings across Tennessee. To submit a comment online, follow these simple instructions:
Step 1: visit http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp
Step 2: Put in your information and click authorize
Step 3: They will email you a link to click. It will take you to a page to make your comment.
Step 4: You want to comment on docket CP15-88. Put that in the search box and it will pull it up.
Step 5: Click to select that docket once it comes up. Once you are done, click “send comment”
For more information about permitting issues, contact:
Scott Banbury at 901-619-8567 or smbanbury@gmail.com