The company proposing a 30-inch, 31.6 mile natural gas line through Schoharie County has begun contacting landowners and has filed a pre-application to the federal government.
The Constitution Pipeline Co., which was formed by cooperating gas companies Cabot and Williams, have sent letters to landowners along the proposed pipeline route, said Alicia Terry, the head of planning for Schoharie County.
The planning office has asked the company for the names of the landowners but the company said those names cannot be released. The company will state how many landowners there are in each town in the county.
The original proposal has a line going through the towns of Jefferson, Summit, Richmondville, Cobleskill, Middleburgh, Schoharie and Wright, and will end at a compressor station in the Town of Wright.
County planning officials said the current proposed routes are rough and based on aerial photography only.
The proposed route starts the review process with FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and will be fine tuned based on "on the ground" work including deed searches, environmental issues (wetlands, floodplain, karst, public water supply). Local government and public input is important throughout the whole process.
The company has given several different options for alternate routes, Ms. Terry said.
All end up at the compressor station but the others have a more westerly route when the line enters the county in Jefferson. Some head west to the Schoharie Valley and then north.
The company is working with officials.
"They are trying to work with the communities," Ms. Terry said Friday.
The exact location of the line will likely change during the approval process, planning officials said, and will be more defined by January when the formal application approval begins.
Open houses on the pipelines will be held in July.
No construction work is scheduled to begin until January of 2014 when the right-of-ways will begin to be cleared.
Construction of the actual pipelines is slated to begin in April, 2014 and gas transmission is scheduled for March 2015, according to company officials.
Residents can get their opinions heard about the line by writing to FERC or contacting its website.
Planning officials have said that the natural gas market will only be able to support one pipeline.
El Paso Gas has also shown interest in a pipeline across the county to the Wright compressor station but is still doing ground work and checking the commercial market, Ms. Terry said.
The company has done a pre-filing with FERC but has a file number with FERC, she said.
The companies are competitors.