The blast radius on this 42″ pipeline at 1440 psi is 1800 feet maximum damage, 3600 feet secondary (heat) damage, with a 2-mile evacuation zone.

The temporary (construction) Right-Of-Way is 125 feet, and the permanent easement they are asking for is 50 feet (it’s in the DEIS). However, also buried deep in the DEIS is the suggestion of a utility corridor that would be 500 feet across. They are only suggesting this for some areas, as far as I understand, but it would include all kinds of pipelines (gas, crude, water, etc.) as well as electricity lines.

Where you write about the pipe being scratched, you are indeed correct that this is a problem, but you don’t say why. I would mention that it allows ground current to cause corrosion, which can cause a catastrophic failure in as short a time as one year.

Where you talk about “global warming,” I suggest using the more modern term, “climate disruption,” which intimates the human causation. Also, you speak of carbon dioxide, but I would suggest you write of CO2 and CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) and make sure to explain that methane is 86x as potent a GHG as CO2 over a 20-year time period.

Thank you, April Keating, Buckhannon, Upshur County, WV