Pipeline path raises concerns
'Permanent structures' would be banned along route
By Aldrich M. Tan
aldrich.tan@indystar.com
June 30, 2006
Maurice and Brenda Richter heard rumors the pipeline was coming.
The couple raise sheep and llamas on a pasture on 5 acres they own in Johnson
County's Needham Township.
The first map seen by the Richters, both 47, showed the proposed 1,663-mile natural gas pipeline running close to their property.
At an open house Wednesday night in Franklin, an aerial map revealed the pipeline would run beneath the middle of their property -- and the llama shelter.
"We're shocked," Maurice Richter said.
They weren't alone. The pipeline's proposed path enters Johnson County north of Bargersville and cuts between Whiteland and Franklin before crossing into Shelby County.
The issue has drawn interest from property owners and developers worried that land values would slide.
Franklin Mayor Brenda Jones-Matthews and city engineer Mike Buening met Thursday morning with representatives from Rockies Express Pipeline to discuss several concerns, including a large housing development planned in the pipeline's path.
The company's representatives seemed receptive to diverting the pipeline farther south, Buening said, away from areas of Johnson County with potential for development.
The proposed pipeline will transport natural gas from the Rocky Mountain region to suppliers and consumers in the Midwest and East Coast, said Rick Rainey, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan, the company building it.
The pipeline would start in Colorado and end in eastern Ohio, passing through Hendricks, Morgan, Johnson and Shelby counties.
Where the 42-inch-diameter pipeline cuts beneath private property, the company will pay owners for use of an easement. The pipeline would be installed about 30 to 36 inches deep. Construction would start in 2008 on the eastern portion.
Pipeline representatives have had informal open houses throughout the country, including the one Wednesday at Franklin's Comfort Inn. Hundreds crowded a thin hallway waiting to view aerial maps.
In a news release, state Rep. Woody Burton, R-Greenwood, called the open house "a carefully disguised 'dog and pony show' " because representatives offered little information.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission plans to have a meeting in Johnson County later this summer to collect public comments.
For safety reasons, property owners would not be allowed to build permanent structures within 25 feet of the pipeline, Rainey said, but they could farm over it.
That concerns Bob and Beverly Scellato, who are working with developers interested in 250 acres they own in White River Township.
"This has been a long-term investment for us," Beverly Scellato said.
On Franklin's northside, Jones-Matthews said, the pipeline would run through the middle of Hampton Springs, a subdivision planned between Knollwood and North Point.
"I can see the benefits of the natural gas," Jones-Matthews said, "but the planning of the pipeline needs further discussion."
During Wednesday's open house, Ryan Childs, the pipeline's project environmental manager, pointed at the word "Preliminary" printed on the aerial maps. "Nothing is set in stone yet," he said.
Call Star reporter Aldrich M. Tan at (317) 444-6309.