VT Gas discusses pipeline benefits

Vermont Gas has scheduled an "open house" meeting tomorrow night (May 8), 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon. (Link) Company employees will be available to meet one-on-one with local residents at "topic tables" to discuss various aspects of natural gas efficiency and the plan to bring natural gas service to Rutland County.

Vermont Gas says the pipeline project will reduce reliance on oil and propane and could result in an energy cost savings of up to 50 percent for Rutland County homes and businesses. Phase I of the project, approved in December, is designed to transport natural gas from Colchester to Middlebury. Phase II is planned to extend the pipeline from Middlebury to the west, through the towns of Cornwall and Shoreham and under Lake Champlain, to provide service to the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga, New York. That phase is strongly opposed by residents of the affected towns.

According to the gas company, an agreement with International Paper will provide $45 million toward the construction of an additional length of pipeline in Phase III, allowing Rutland County to be served by natural gas by the year 2020. Without the extension to Ticonderoga, the company says it will take about 15 more years to connect to Rutland.

Possible pipeline paths provoke public protest

Two of five potential routes for a 24-mile Vermont Gas natural gas pipeline project pass through the Town of Whiting. Those two routes would also take the pipeline south from Middlebury through Salisbury and Leicester, and then west through Whiting, Orwell and Shoreham, on its way to an underwater crossing of Lake Champlain to the International Paper mill at Ticonderoga, NY.

According to a grading system used by project planners, those two routes affecting Whiting are among the more expensive being considered, though they would put Vermont Gas in a favorable position for expansion southward to Rutland.

Three less expensive options would send the pipeline immediately west from Middlebury, crossing through the center of Cornwall and the northern portion of Shoreham. While those options appear to face significant community opposition, two of the three trans-Cornwall routes have highly favorable rankings in terms of construction, permitting process and cost and a somewhat favorable rating for connection to Rutland. Those options have informally been designated as the "most feasible scenarios."

According to a story by John Flowers in the Addison County Independent, the routes under consideration would be part of Phase 2 of a Vermont Gas expansion into Addison County. Phase 1, a 41-mile pipeline from Colchester to Middlebury, is current under review by the  Vermont Public Service Board.

The prospect of access to natural gas (Vermont Gas appears to be planning to service Shoreham village and may add service to the center of Cornwall), has not increased the attractiveness of the project to local residents. Cornwall residents along Routes 30 and 74 have placed lawn signs opposing the pipeline routes.

Vermont Gas officials have been meeting with a multi-town planning group.