Complaint submitted to FERC urges denial of Nexus
application
August 11, 2017
Contact: Nancy Shiffler, (734) 971-1157 nshiffler@comcast.net
Lansing, MI – Just as a US Senate
confirmation vote re-established a quorum on the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC), the Washtenaw County Road Commission Managing Director, Roy
Townsend, submitted a comment letter to FERC urging the commission to deny the
current application for the Nexus natural gas pipeline. The proposed pipeline route runs through Ohio
and into Michigan’s Lenawee, Monroe and Washtenaw County.
The letter notes Nexus’ refusal to
honor the County’s safety, operational, and maintenance concerns for the
numerous roads the pipeline would cross: “Nexus
also insists on creating driveway access points at improper, unsafe locations,
even where nearby, safe locations exist, and in violation of all published
safety standards.” While noting the
company’s claims that a FERC certificate would allow it to pre-empt and
override local regulations, Townsend states, “Nexus repeatedly and vastly overstates the breadth of pre-emption, to
the point of literally claiming Nexus can do whatever it wants, whenever it
wants.” The full text of the letter
can be found at
http://elibrary.FERC.gov/
http://elibrary.FERC.gov/
The Road Commission is not alone in
receiving this kind of treatment from Nexus.
Kathy Schoen, owner of Washtenaw County farmland along the proposed
pipeline route, states, “This is the same
kind of arrogant and dismissive treatment landowners and local communities have
received for their safety and property concerns. Nexus does
and says whatever it takes to get what they want.”
The Road Commission letter also
addresses the issues of road clean up and repair: “Most
shockingly, Nexus has refused any responsibility even to assure that our public
roads are cleaned up and repaired after Nexus’ construction is completed.” The Road Commission’s concerns about road
damage are well founded considering the collapse of M-50 in Lenawee County
during Energy Transfer Partner’s construction of the Rover pipeline.
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