Source: Lancaster Online
Another gas pipeline is being planned for Lancaster County.
Williams, the owner of the proposed Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project that would cross 36.5 miles of Lancaster County, has announced it is in the early stages of an expansion of its existing Transco pipeline that would affect about 60 property owners along 10 miles in Drumore, East Drumore and Eden townships.
Notification letters were recently sent to the local landowners and survey crews were to start fanning out along the pipeline route beginning Monday.
If approved, a 42-inch pipeline would be placed adjacent to the three existing pipelines in the Transco corridor that runs through the county now. This would require a right-of-way expansion of 25 feet, according to Williams spokesman Christopher Stockton.
Affected would be property owners currently crossed by the Transco right of way and some new property owners affected by an expanded right of way.
The Transco pipeline is a major interstate gas pipeline that delivers gas from Texas to New York City. About 20 miles pass through Lancaster County. Parallel pipelines of 24, 30 and 36 inches are in the current right of way.
The Transco pipeline is where the controversial Atlantic Sunrise pipeline, also by Williams, would terminate.
The purpose of the new Northeast Supply Enhancement Project would be to expand the northbound flow of gas and relieve a bottleneck that exists, Stockton.
Another 25-mile expansion would be made along the line in New Jersey and under the Atlantic Ocean near New York.
The new pipeline would loop back to the current Transco lines, which are interconnected in spots.
Stockton said the expansion is not part of the Atlantic Sunrise project and is not dependent on that project.
He said Williams is in the process of soliciting additional customer interest in the project.
He said Williams plans to contact the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission within the next few weeks to formally begin a pre-filing process.
This would be the third Williams gas pipeline proposed for Lancaster County in the last two years.
Currently nearing completion is the Rock Springs Pipeline Expansion that is running a gas pipeline from the Transco line near Holtwood to the expanded gas-fired Wildcat Point power plant in Cecil County, Maryland. About 10 miles is in Lancaster County in Fulton and Drumore townships.