Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center
|
|
|
News
Brandywine Conservancy Files Appeal in Federal Court Seeking Reversal of Decision on Pipeline Project
CHADDS FORD, PA February 17, 2010 - The Brandywine Conservancy and more than a dozen landowners who have placed conservation easements on their properties have filed a Petition for Review in the United States Court of Appeals regarding the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) order granting a conditional certificate for the AES/Mid-Atlantic liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and pipeline project. FERC granted conditional approval for the project in January 2009. On December 17, 2009, FERC issued a final order denying requests for both a rehearing and a stay filed earlier by the Conservancy, the State of Maryland, and other affected parties.
The Brandywine Conservancy holds conservation easements on 2,500 acres of lands in the heart of Chester County, Pennsylvania, that would be transected by seven linear miles of the proposed 30-inch diameter pipeline. The pipeline would run from the proposed LNG terminal at Sparrows Point on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to Eagle, PA. It would cross a total of 171 waterways, including at least 30 crossings of the Brandywine and its tributaries, and 23 acres of wetlands in Maryland and Pennsylvania and would involve the dredging of Baltimore Harbor and disposal of 3.7 million cubic yards of sediment, much of which has been contaminated.
"Our duty is to protect the open space and the stream corridors of the properties that landowners have voluntarily restricted, to ensure that those values are preserved forever," said Sherri Evans-Stanton, Director of the Conservancy's Environmental Management Center. "We filed extensive comments on both the draft and final Environmental Impact Statements requesting specific mitigation measures and more complete environmental analyses, but FERC issued its certificate approval for this project with an incredible 169 conditions."
Once FERC grants its approval for a project, the applicant has the power of eminent domain to condemn the right-of-way. "This conditional approval places our conservation easements and landowners' properties in jeopardy before the final environmental impacts and mitigation measures are determined," said Ms. Evans-Stanton. "The Conservancy will argue that the decision to issue the certificate was premature because of inadequate detail in the environmental impact statement, lack of necessary permits from the reviewing state and federal agencies, and failure by the company to demonstrate there is a true need for the gas pipeline."
The Brandywine Conservancy (www.brandywineconservancy.org) was founded in 1967. It holds more than 400 conservation easements and has protected over 43,000 acres in Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania, as well as New Castle County in Delaware. The Environmental Management Center provides conservation services to landowners, farmers, municipalities and developers. The staff of professional planners and natural resource managers offers technical assistance and expertise for conservation and comprehensive land use planning. Conservation easements, assistance to local governments and water protection efforts are the key elements of these programs. In 2008, the Conservancy was among the first land trusts in the country to be awarded accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
# # #
Website designed and maintained by Unica Multimedia
© Brandywine Conservancy
This site is for personal, educational, non-commercial use only and may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the Brandywine Conservancy.
|
|
