DEC to Host Three Legislative Hearings this Week on Proposed Gas Pipeline for WNY Region

ALBANY – Officials with the state Department of Environmental Conservation will host three legislative public hearings this week regarding a proposed natural gas pipeline that will run through nearby Erie and Cattaraugus Counties.

The Northern Access Project is a gas pipeline proposed by National Fuel that would move natural gas from Pennsylvania, across Allegany, Cattaraugus, Erie, and Niagara counties, and for export into Canada. The DEC has requested that any state residents interested in offering thoughts on the environmental impact of the proposal attend one of three public hearings. The meetings will be on:

• Tuesday, Feb. 7 at St. Bonaventure University, Doyle Hall;
• Wednesday Feb. 8 at Iroquois High School;
• Thursday Feb. 9 at Niagara County Community College, room E-140.

All meetings will begin at 6 p.m.

According to the Clean Air Council advocacy group, the project is proposed to cross 180 streams, 270 wetlands, and 7 ponds. In addition, a new compressor station is proposed for Pendleton, a compressor station expansion is proposed for Elma, and a new dehydration facility is proposed for Wheatfield.

“The sum total of this new construction, as it is currently proposed, will greatly interfere with the region’s air quality, our recreational water usage throughout the region, contribute to climate change, and poses the threat of massive explosions in the event of a leak, all for no benefit whatsoever to the people of Western New York who will be directly impacted,” the group said in an online statement on Facebook.