Constitution Pipeline To Put 1,300 To Work

By JIM KEVLIN • Hometown Oneonta/The Freeman’s Journal

Edition of Dec. 11-12, 2014

Opponents are still looking for ways to block it, but the Constitution Pipeline Co. is planning to start work on the 124-mile natural-gas conduit by February or March, as soon as a couple of months from now.

Bids on the project will be let soon after Jan. 1, and the construction companies that win the contract will begin seeking to fill 1,300 jobs – primarily welders, heavy-machinery operators and pipe-fitters, said Chris Stockton, Constitution spokesman, in an interview this week.

Work will begin simultaneously at five points along the route, with one base camp in the Oneonta area. The plan is to complete the $700 million project by the end of 2015, he said.

FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) voted Tuesday, Dec. 2, to issue a “certificate of public convenience and necessity,” allowing the Constitution to go forward with plans to link fracked natural gas from northeastern Pennsylvania to Schoharie County, where it would connect with the Iroquois and Tennessee pipelines, serving New York City and Boston respectively.

The certificate was “conditional,” but that is being interpreted in different ways. Stockton said the conditions are to ensure environment precautions are met, which the company intends to do. Opponents of the pipeline see the conditions as precluding action by the Constitution until they are met.

“We still are taking the position that the pipeline has not had the final approval, which is true,” said Robert Nied of the Schoharie County-based Center for Sustainable Rural Communities.

Acting on its interpretation, however, the company immediately mailed out letters to landowners along the route, advising them to accept, by Thursday, Dec. 11, its offers for the easements necessary to build and maintain the pipeline.

“Constitution would like to reach an agreement with you and strongly prefers to avoid litigation,” the letter reads.

“However, if you do not accept this final offer and execute the documents enclosed … we will proceed to initiate suit under the Natural Gas Act.”

Opponents, through the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, have sent a letter asking state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate what they see as an attempt to intimidate landowners who are holding out.

Meanwhile, Stockton said, the company – “on our dime” – has agreed to install “taps” at four point to allow access to the natural gas. One is at Sidney, to serve the new Amphenol plant. But Unadilla, Otego and Delhi also have agreements with the Leatherstocking Gas Co., a Corning affiliate, to receive gas for community use.