Chesco group makes headway in pipeline project

Months ago, some Chester County homeowners were feeling powerless to exert influence over the rebuilding of a natural-gas pipeline running through 170 backyards.

With solid support from the federal government, an Oklahoma pipeline company appeared intent on brushing aside local concerns that its plan to dig up and widen the pipeline would unnecessarily destroy acres of trees and perhaps damage the fragile ecology of the Brandywine Creek.

But at a meeting of homeowner leaders and others yesterday, there was a noticeable shift in mood. The group seemed buoyant.

The homeowners hadn't halted the Downingtown-area project - they said that was never their goal - but they clearly had demonstrated some influence in prodding the Williams Cos. of Tulsa to slow down and make some changes to its plan.

The company agreed to keep some trees and do more in preventing runoff from construction. More significant, perhaps, is that it has offered a $2.5 million incentive to the state Department of Environmental Protection to grant a permit allowing the company to use a controversial method for crossing the Brandywine.

The money is meant to offset any environmental harm the work might do to the creek. The DEP previously denied the permit request.

Chester County's elected officials - at the local, state, and congressional levels - have added their muscle to the homeowners' fight.

"We have some of the most informed, active citizens they have encountered anywhere in the country," State Rep. Duane Milne, a Republican, said at a meeting in West Chester of a group calling itself the Chester County Pipeline Task Force.

A Williams official who attended the meeting said she was eager to work cooperatively with the group.

The 7.1-mile stretch of pipeline that Williams is rebuilding is part of the 1,800-mile Transco Pipeline running from Texas to New York City.

By purchasing easements from many homeowners - and threatening to seek other land by eminent domain - the company has cleared the way for much of the project. Work is almost half done. But it cannot complete the last half-mile of the pipeline without a DEP permit.

The federal government judges the pipeline to be of such importance to the nation's economy and military security that it severely restricts the land-use controls that local officials usually have over utilities.

That makes even small successes by the local group worth noting.

Because of delays caused by local resistance, the pipeline company already may have missed its chance to complete the Brandywine crossing this year. Even if it gets DEP approval, it might have to wait to do the work until next summer.

If the DEP turns down the company's proposed method for partially damming the river while widening the pipeline, Williams might be forced to use a more costly method of digging a new line in the bedrock under the creek. The homeowners, on environmental grounds, have pushed for this costlier method.

Lynda Farrell, a leader of the homeowners' group, said the Williams pipeline would not be the only issue for the task force.

Other pipeline companies plan other projects in Chester County. The group will be watching those, too.