State regulators have cleared Vermont Gas Systems to install pipeline near power lines owned by the Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO). The company was temporarily forbidden to do work near the power lines over concerns that the chemical treatment used on utility poles would be disturbed by the work.
The Vermont Public Service Board ordered Vermont Gas to come up with a soil management plan that would define how the company would reduce risks of groundwater pollution as it installed its natural gas pipeline from Chittenden County to the Middlebury area.
Vermont Gas submitted the plan the day the Public Service Board ordered it, and after receiving comments on the plan, the board approved it on August 26.
Work on the controversial pipeline is ongoing. Vermont Gas has filed for permission to go ahead with the next phase of the project, which would extend the pipeline from Addison County under Lake Champlain to a paper mill in Ticonderoga, New York. The pipeline's third phase would bring gas south to Rutland.
Company officials say serving the paper mill in Ticonderoga opens up a revenue stream for the company that will allow it to expand to Rutland sooner. Critics say that the plan increases Vermont's reliance on fossil fuels and that bringing service to a commercial buyer in New York doesn't serve the public good of Vermont.
