Buckeye XPress Pipeline will risk severe local damages going under the Ohio River

From Keep Wayne Wild, Athens, Ohio, December 16, 2019
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OEPA Meeting on 401 Water Quality Certification THIS WEDNESDAY IN Jackson, Ohio.

We just got word that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) will be holding a meeting in Jackson, Ohio THIS WED Dec 18 at 6pm. If you’re able to attend, please show up! You can see the OEPA announcement below. For more information, contact Jessica Johnson at OEPA: jessica.johnson@epa.ohio.gov

Buckeye Xpress — 401 Water Quality Certification
Division of Surface Water – Jackson County
Wednesday, December 18, 2019, 6:00 PM

Jackson City Middle School
21 Tropic Street
Jackson, Ohio 45640

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12/5/19
PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER, (614) 644-2160
MEDIA CONTACT: Anthony Chenault
CITIZEN CONTACT: Jessica Johnson

Ohio EPA Meeting Set for Buckeye Xpress Project

Information Session and Hearing Scheduled Dec. 18

Ohio EPA will hold a public meeting to discuss the application for a water quality certification submitted by Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC, for a pipeline project in Vinton, Jackson, Gallia, and Lawrence counties.

An information session will begin at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, at Jackson City Middle School, 21 Tropic St., immediately followed by a hearing to accept public comments on the certification application.

The proposed project involves the construction of approximately 66 miles of new natural gas pipeline, decommissioning of approximately 61 miles of aging pipeline, and the installation of a new lateral pipeline.

Discharges from the activity, if approved, would result in degradation to, or lowering of, the water quality within the Raccoon-Symmes, Little Scioto-Tygarts and Lower Scioto watersheds. Proposed degradation of water quality would be offset through appropriate mitigation.

Ohio EPA will accept written comments on the certification application through Dec. 26. Anyone may submit comments or request to be on the mailing list for information. To comment or receive information on the application, write to: Ohio EPA-DSW, Attn: Permits Processing Unit, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 or email epa.dswcomments@epa.ohio.gov.

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Range Resources objects to Columbia Gas’ Buckeye XPress project as redundant

From an Article by Sean Sullivan, S & P Global Market Intelligence, May 1, 2018

Range Resources-Appalachia LLC, one of the largest holders of firm gas transportation capacity on the Columbia Gas Transmission LLC system, objects to the proposed 275,000-Dth/d Buckeye XPress pipeline project in Ohio because it would make some currently held capacity less valuable.

The Range Resources Corp. subsidiary struck the hardest out of several Columbia Gas customers that asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to participate in the Buckeye XPress project review. In an April 30 motion to intervene and protest, the shale gas exploration and production company asked FERC to deny Columbia Gas’ request for a Natural Gas Act certificate for the project, or at least direct Columbia Gas to accept the producer’s offer to relinquish some of its gas transportation capacity on Columbia Gas’ 1.5-Bcf/d Leach XPress project.

Range said part of its Leach XPress capacity is identical to the proposed Buckeye XPress capacity, and “without the LXP project, the BXP project is not possible or viable.” The Buckeye XPress project would make the Leach XPress capacity less valuable by installing “unneeded capacity” in the same market at a lower transportation rate, Range said. FERC authorized Columbia Gas to put the estimated $1.52 billion Leach XPress in service in December 2017.

Range said FERC should look closely at Columbia Gas’ cost estimates for Buckeye XPress, a “project that has no shippers.” The producer observed that the estimated cost of Buckeye XPress is $709 million, with an estimated $500 million automatically recovered through a capital cost recovery surcharge for mondernization projects.

Columbia Gas applied for Buckeye XPress on March 26. The pipeline company said the the project is designed to modernize its system and to prepare for growth in Appalachian production. The project would enable Columbia Gas to provide an incremental 275,000 Dth/d of firm gas transportation capacity by using replacement pipeline of a larger diameter. The developer would install 66.2 miles of new 36-inch-diameter pipeline and abandon 60.8 miles of 20- inch and 24-inch-diameter pipeline.

The project would take place mostly in Ohio, with a small bit of work in Wayne County, West Virginia. Columbia Gas asked FERC to authorize the project before Jan. 31, 2019.

Other companies, most of them Columbia Gas customers or potential customers, also filed motions to intervene. These included Shell Energy North America (US) LP, Statoil Natural Gas LLC, Duke Energy Corp. companies, Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc., PSEG Energy Resources & Trade LLC, and other gas distribution companies under National Grid USA and NiSource Inc.

The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Ohio Environmental Council asked for a spot in the proceeding. They said they were concerned about environmental impacts, including effects on the Wayne National Forest in Ohio, and do not support the project as proposed. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, which represents agricultural interests that “oppose government entities taking prime farmland for public purposes” and want protection from the effects of construction, also filed a motion to intervene. (FERC docket CP18-137)

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Buckeye Xpress Pipeline – SourceWatch, September 9, 2019

Environmental Impact Of Buckeye XPress Pipeline

In May of 2018, the Ohio Environmental Council, Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a motion to intervene in a federal permitting process for the Buckeye Xpress Pipeline. The proposed 66-mile fracked-gas pipeline would cut through Ohio’s only national forest and cross 336 streams and 134 acres of wetlands, passing through 12 miles of the Wayne National Forest’s Ironton unit and across the Ohio River to West Virginia. It would expand and replace an existing pipeline and dig up 225 acres.

In June of 2019, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) environmental assessment found that the proposed project would not lead to significant environmental impacts as long as appropriate mitigation measures were in place. In June of 2019, FERC accepted public comments on its environmental assessment. The Sierra Club, the Ohio Environmental Council, Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign, and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with several volunteer and community groups, were among those opposing the project. The project would impact streams, wetlands, and farmland, and threaten crucial habitat.