PRINCESS ANNE, Md.- A proposed natural gas pipeline from Wicomico County to Somerset County is stirring debate.
The Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company wants to build a natural gas pipeline along Route 13. It would stretch almost seven miles between Salisbury and Princess Anne. Project organizers say the gas line would bring critical infrastructure to the area and help reduce the carbon footprint at places like the Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne.
"By bringing this natural gas in, not only does it help us at UMES and ECI as well, but it also helps the environment," Jim Mathias, director of government relations at UMES, says. "The fuels that we're burning now, the wood chips and all, are much dirtier. Emissions are much worse. This is much cleaner."
Members of Somerset County's economic development team says they've been pushing to bring natural gas to the area for decades, saying it will attract and retain business. They say Somerset is the only county in the area that does not have access to natural gas and this pipeline would level the playing field.
However, environmentalists worry about its direct impact on the land and wetlands it would pass through, and whether the pipe would leak.
"If leakages occur in these pipes and they do deteriorate with years, especially in a salty environment like this, you wouldn't know that they're leaking," Dana Simson, an author and environmentalist, says.
Some say there are better ways to bring clean energy to the area.
"I definitely want to see energy improved to Somerset County and those areas. They definitely deserve the economic advantages but I think that there is a choice here," Susan Olsen, chair of the Sierra Club's Lower Eastern Shore Group, says. "It's not like they get the pipeline and there's nothing else. We could do geothermal. We could do solar. We could do wind or preferably a combination."
Advocates for the gas line say it's a cost-effective method to bring clean energy to Somerset.
"The one thing I ask as we go forward is for the folks that have concerns, we are hearing you very loud and clear," Mathias says. "We work to be an environmental leader but please don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. You know, the most important thing is, is we get the pipeline in. What we pump to the pipeline is going to get better and better."
Maryland's Department of Environment is accepting public comment for the next couple of weeks, before everything is sent over to the state's board of public works for a final hearing and decision. The project received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January.
Chesapeake Utilities, the company affiliated with ESNG, issued this statement following Tuesday's public hearing with MDE:
"The Del-Mar Energy Pathway Project enables our Company to meet the growing customer demand for natural gas service in the region. This project further expands our partnership in the local communities in which we live and work, bringing natural gas service to Somerset County, one of the few counties in the state without access to natural gas, and providing a cleaner, reliable and more cost-effective energy choice for customers on the Delmarva Peninsula.
"Studies have shown that a project like this will create more job growth and expansion of services, particularly increased demand and additional local services. Furthermore, the project entails installing critical energy infrastructure and extending natural gas to the Eastern Shore Correctional Institute (ECI) and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) , significantly reducing the carbon footprint for both facilities by removing the equivalent of more than 11,000 cars from the road. The project will also facilitate the future delivery of renewable natural gas into the natural gas distribution system on the Eastern Shore."
