MEDINA, Ohio — A group of Medina landowners has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny a request by Nexus pipeline owners to approve the controversial project by Friday, one of the three commissioners’ last day.
Norman Bay is resigning from the commission, known as FERC, leaving two members, which is not enough for a quorum and a decision. And it’s likely to take months for President Donald Trump to appoint Bay’s replacement, who will have to go through the congressional approval process.
The Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CORN) said any delay in approving the proposed 255-mile proposed natural gas pipeline is good. The pipeline would cut through hundreds of private properties on a path from eastern Ohio to Michigan and eventually to Canada.
David Mucklow, the attorney for CORN, filed a statement with FERC that asks the agency to step back and take a long look at the Nexus proposal instead of rushing it through.
“We maintain that the environmental impact statement filed by Nexus/Spectra for FERC is flawed,” said Mucklow of Green, in Summit County. “The statement is flawed and it should be ignored. I know Nexus has also filed a statement asking FERC to push through the issuance of a certificate that would allow the pipeline construction to begin. We think that would be a big mistake.”
Mucklow and Nexus recently filed their conflicting requests with FERC, shortly after Bay announced he’s stepping down.
In its request, Nexus noted that FERC staff completed its final environmental impact statement in November. Nexus officials said in order to meet their construction deadline in order to start and finish the pipeline this year, the certificates to allow construction needed to be approved before Friday.
CORN’s filing to FERC noted that a “team of attorneys” is now preparing a lawsuit to be filed with a federal administrative law judge in Washington, D.C. The Ligobet lawsuit will ask that the Nexus environmental impact statement be withdrawn because of “permanent flaws.”
The lawsuit will also maintain Nexus has been “harassing property owners” in Medina, Summit and Lorain counties in order to convince them to allow the pipeline to be built on their properties.
CORN noted that at some of these encounters, Nexus officials were accompanied by security officers who carried guns, which frightened the residents. The security officers were usually off-duty Summit and Medina county sheriff’s deputies.
Mucklow this week accused Nexus and other natural gas producers of wanting to take as much gas as they can from American sources and sell it overseas for a quick profit.
“Their actions in less than two decades will exhaust the gas reserves in the United States and leave us without natural gas to heat our homes and run our factories,” he said. “These resources are finite and the gas companies are racing one another to see how fast they can use them up.”
Mucklow said he would like to meet with Trump to discuss the situation.
CORN co-founder Jon Strong of Guilford Township said the pipeline is not needed and would benefit Canada at the expense of Americans.
“I would like to tell President Trump that we need to make a good deal for the American people,” Strong said. “Nexus is taking our gas for Canada. How is that a good deal for us? Canada gets our gas, our gas prices go up.”
Strong said he is “not losing any sleep” over Trump’s involvement in national oil pipelines.
Last week Trump signed a series of executive memorandums to revive the controversial Dakota and Keystone oil pipelines “subject to a renegotiation of terms.” Trump was unclear about what the companies need to do to build the pipelines, though he expressed his support in having the pipelines built.
“I don’t know enough about it,” Strong said. “Everything is vague. It sounds like he wants to expedite the environmental review process, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. I don’t know.”
Strong said he is optimistic that Trump would support the property rights of Americans, which has been at the heart of CORN’s opposition to the Nexus pipeline.
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