Saturday, 08 November 2014 10:00
The alarm is ringing again for Kentuckians who already stopped one potentially hazardous pipeline project. Public backlash plugged plans for the Bluegrass Pipeline, which included building 180 miles of new pipeline to help transport natural gas liquids from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast. Now, less than a year later, another pipeline for the fracking industry is in the works – this time to repurpose the Tennessee Gas Pipeline to move natural gas liquids. Environmental advocate Chris Schimmoeller calls it “a far different beast” from natural gas.
The Tennessee Gas Pipeline system currently travels just over one-thousand miles from Pennsylvania to Louisiana. Installed primarily in the 1950s, it runs 256 miles through 18 Kentucky counties. Campbellsville, Danville, Glasgow, Morehead and Richmond are among the towns near its path.
Energy conglomerates Kinder Morgan and MarkWest want to make the pipeline conversion to natural gas liquids by 2017. Marion County Judge Executive John Mattingly opposes the idea.
With this second pipeline controversy brewing in Kentucky, citizens who united to stop the Bluegrass Pipeline are hosting a summit tomorrow (November 8) in Lexington about fracking. Schimmoeller, one of the summit’s organizers, says there will also be a focus on how to move away from fossil fuels.
Kentucky Weed! 