The town of Monkton has signed an agreement with Vermont Gas Systems that sets out the conditions the company must follow if it’s allowed to build a natural gas pipeline through the community.
Vermont Gas wants to extend its line 41 miles south to Addison County. Some residents in Monkton oppose the project. The town selectboard last week voted to reject a legal agreement – called a memorandum of understanding – between the town and the company.
Selectboard Chairman John Phillips says the board has now approved a revised agreement. He said the new agreement has “relatively minor changes in the wording. Other than that’s it’s substantially the same document they had rejected the first time.”
Phillips said the board needed more time to review the document. He said the agreement stops short of giving the town’s full endorsement of the project.
“It doesn’t specifically endorse the pipeline like we did in the first one,” he said. “But basically because we agreed to it, by implication we support the pipeline.”
The agreement says the pipeline has to be kept 300 feet from homes and wells. Vermont Gas says it expects to provide service to about 100 Monkton residences within two years after the project receives state approval.
