For local residents in the path of the proposed Nexus pipeline, the recent decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has triggered understandable frustration. The commission found no major environmental issues standing in the way of the project. The decision by the agency responsible for intrastate pipeline routes clears a substantial bureaucratic obstacle for the 36-inch Nexus line, which would cross northern Stark and southern Summit and Medina counties on its way across the state. Construction could begin early next year.
City leaders in Green, working with a grass-roots group called the Coalition to Reroute Nexus, deserve credit for continuing to press their case. If it faces an uphill battle, the city is right to raise questions about the environmental and economic impacts of the pipeline and the need to study further the possibility of an alternative route through less-populated areas.
Continued efforts to persuade the commission and the pipeline company represent by far the best strategy. By comparison, attempts to block company surveyors from access to the proposed route promise to be exercises in futility, given state law and court cases that indicate surveying does not amount to trespassing.
Nexus previously has objected to the idea of a southern route through more rural areas, similar to the one being taken by another major project, the Rover pipeline, which would cross southern Stark and Wayne counties. Nexus has cited expensive delays, increased distances to potential customers and environmental impacts.
What the FERC must weigh carefully in its final analysis are the overall costs and benefits. The commission must take into account the need for supplies of natural gas from major shale plays in eastern Ohio to reach markets elsewhere, the nation still relying heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs. Pipelines remain the safest way to transport natural gas, which burns more cleanly than oil and coal.
That said, Gerard Neugebauer, the Green mayor, and his allies continue to raise significant concerns, especially as they relate to the pipeline going through a developing city. What Nexus hopes to gain from potential customers in northern Ohio must be balanced against the economic impact to the city. An analysis by the city indicates that the pipeline, by taking land out of development, would cost Green $120 million in lost tax revenue during the next 50 years.
Neugebauer also continues to raise environmental concerns involving the possible impact of the pipeline on wetlands, especially the 344-acre Singer Lake Bog, home of rare plant and animal species. Wetlands play a key role in easing flooding and filtering pollution.
While an opening still exists for the FERC to seek modification of the Nexus pipeline plan, raising these and other issues remains a worthwhile exercise. City leaders and members of the grass-roots coalition have gone well beyond the usual “not in my backyard” arguments to raise important questions about the pipeline route and present a constructive alternative, a southern route. Their concerns deserve closer attention from the commission staff.