Bluegrass Pipeline plan would affect 750 water crossings

• Pipeline developers spell out how they'd navigate more than 750 stream, river or wetlands crossings, using open trenching for most of them.
• Developers pulled their permit applications after Army Corps of Engineers found it lacking but promise to resubmit later.
• Environmental advocates press for comprehensive environmental impact study

More than 750 rivers, streams, wetlands and ponds across Kentucky would be affected by the proposed construction of the Bluegrass Pipeline, according to documents that developers submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Construction of natural gas liquids pipeline that will be up to the up to 24-inches in diameter will require digging trenches through most of waterways or drilling underneath others, as well as maintaining a 50-foot cleared right of way. But they insist the work will cause no permanent damage.

MAP | Detailed topographic maps of pipeline route across Kentucky

INTERACTIVE MAP | Water bodies, wetlands in pipeline path

"Impacts on water bodies crossed by the project would be temporary," the pipeline project asserted in an initial wetlands-destruction permit application to the Corps dated Dec. 30, 2013. "As proposed, the project will not result in a permanent loss of wetlands."

Environmentalists this week countered by saying there's no way that there would be no lasting damage to the water bodies, given the scope of the pipeline project, the amount of digging and large number of water bodies to be crossed and the subsequent required maintenance.

"For anyone to say 'no permanent impact' is simply ludicrous," said Judy Peterson , executive director of Kentucky Waterways Alliance, an environmental group that has been following the proposal.

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All those water bodies and wetlands would have pipeline buried underneath, she said, "that could presumably leak or need to be maintained.

"Maybe even more importantly," she said, "all these large rights of ways would need to be cleared for the pipeline," allowing a more direct path for mud or sediment to pollute the water.

Peterson also said the documents don't take into account Kentucky's sinkhole and cavern-riddled karst geology, which experts say poses major construction and operational challenges to pipeline developers.

The Corps released the documents this week, nearly two months after The Courier-Journal had requested them through the Freedom of Information Act. The Corps, which in February said it had determined the application was incomplete, also made public a March 12 letter from Bluegrass Pipeline, in which the company said it was withdrawing its permit application.

Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, the two companies developing the pipeline, had also announced in February they were pushing back construction completion to the end of 2016 to "better align with the needs of producers."

A pipeline spokeswoman, Sara Delgado, said in an email that Bluegrass Pipeline also has withdrawn its permit applications filed at Corps offices in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, covering other sections of the proposed pipeline.

By withdrawing applications to the Corps, Bluegrass Pipeline wanted to let the Corps "focus on other projects as we work to complete our environmental analysis and the (permit) applications," Delgado said.

She said the company plans to resubmit its analysis and application.

Detailed maps released

Although the permit applications have been withdrawn, the documents provided to The Courier-Journal reveal that developers were seeking the type of permit that avoids public engagement and a possible full-blown environmental impact study. They did that by making a case that the project would do little to no environmental harm to the water bodies and wetlands regulated by the Corps.

The documents also provide some of the most detailed thinking and descriptions of the controversial proposal provided by the developers yet.

They include, for example, topographical maps of the pipeline's entire proposed 189-mile route through Kentucky; explanations of trenching methods; locations of where the company was planning to use directional boring techniques to go under water bodies or sensitive areas; and strategies for offsetting environmental harm.

The maps show the company would bore under the Ohio River from Ohio, with the pipeline entering the Kentucky northwest of Bradfork, in Bracken County. They show a route that would require new construction through 12 other counties: Pendleton, Grant, Harrison, Owen, Scott, Franklin, Woodford, Anderson, Nelson, LaRue, Hardin and Breckenridge.

In Breckenridge County the pipeline would connect with a Texas Gas Transmission pipeline that would be re-purposed and carry the natural gas liquids to the Gulf Coast.

For most of the 711 identified water bodies along the route, such as smaller or periodically flowing streams, developers said they were planning on using open-cut trenching with equipment such as backhoes and drag lines to cross.

In other cases, they would divert the flowing water around the pipeline crossing to allow for dry trench drilling. And in 29 instances, they were planning to use directional boring to avoid surface impacts.

In each case, they promised to control sediment and restore the streams and stream banks after construction.

Application shortcoming identified

The application identified 55 wetlands, including 15 that are forested and in the way of the pipeline. It said construction could temporarily damage 6.3 acres of those areas. The 50-foot-wide pipeline right-of-way crossing them would add another 1.3 acres, according to the company.

They acknowledge they would need to mow, cut or trim vegetation along the right of way but say it would not result in any permanent loss of the wetlands.

In all, 76 miles of the pipeline was planned to go through Kentucky forests, with 113 miles traversing agriculture or developed land cover.

Corps officials in Louisville said the application fell short in several areas. Although it identified more than 750 water bodies or wetlands in Kentucky that would need to be crossed by the pipeline, the company had not conducted field studies on all and the Corps believes there may be even more.

"We need all the water bodies assessed," said Lee Anne Devine, a regulatory chief with the Corps' Louisville District.

It also fell short on endangered species and historic resources evaluations, she said.

Delgado said her company had discussed the application with the Corps, and that everyone was aware "that further analysis and information was being developed and that the applications were incomplete." It was understood that the official permit-review process could not start until there was a complete application, she said.

The company had been seeking a one-size-fits-all permit called a nationwide permit, that assumes no long-term environmental damage and also, according to Corps officials, avoids requirements public engagement.

Environmental advocates say the project is so large and complicated that it should require what's called an individual permit — one that is tailored to the project, requires the public involvement and could include a full-blown environmental impact study.

"They should focus on the entire project and not just the aquatic impacts," said Louisville attorney Tom FitzGerald, who represented pipeline opponents in their successful eminent-domain lawsuit.

But Corps officials said it is too soon what permit or review process will be required, especially since there is no current permit application before them any more.

"We don't know how this one might go, if and when we receive the application again," Devine said.

Battle lines drawn

The pipeline proposal has triggered a fight in Kentucky since it was introduced last year, with at least 11 counties passing resolutions of opposition or concern.

The company suffered another setback March 25, when Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that the Bluegrass Pipeline does not have the legal authority to condemn land to pipe natural gas liquids across Kentucky. Pipeline opponents, however, were unable to get the Kentucky General Assembly to pass a bill that would have blocked Bluegrass Pipeline from using eminent domain.

The company says it has secured easements for two-thirds of its route across Kentucky. And the construction hold-up means delayed payments, said Keith Wright, a Pendleton County resident who said he signed a $100,000 contract with the pipeline to grant access to 5 acres of his property.

Wright said he expects the Bluegrass Pipeline eventually will be allowed to be built. He said he is not worried about the route changing in his area, even if the company may not be allowed to use eminent domain.

When some of his neighbors objected, he said, Bluegrass Pipeline were able to find others who cooperated.

"We understand there is some risk, but we feel this project will be very safe," Keith said. "We are familiar with gas lines in our area and we see them as being very well maintained, and don't know of any problems."

Mary Ann Chamberlain, a Nelson County native whose family owns several farming parcels in the county, said has been heartened by the grassroots opposition that has grown in the last year. She said she has friends who have turned down money for an easement, and others who are still thinking about selling one.

"It is hard for me to understand anyone who would sell an easement," she added. "When you think that the easement is forever, and you are endangering your property values forever, and that a farmer's property is usually their most valuable possession ... and the risk to water and from explosions."

Reach reporter James Bruggers at (502) 582-4645 or on Twitter @jbruggers.

Bluegrass Pipeline

• Would serve the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, carrying natural gas liquids from the Pennsylvania fracking zones to the Gulf Coast.

• After drilling, most of the natural gas is stripped away for use as a natural gas fuel, leaving natural gas liquids that include ethane, propane and butane.

• Would require construction of some 500 miles of new 24-inch or 20-inch pipeline, pressurized to nearly 1,500 pounds per square inch.

• Natural gas liquids would be used by the petrochemical industry to make plastics, adhesives, fuels and other products for domestic and foreign markets.

INTERACTIVE MAP | Water bodies, wetlands in pipeline path