Westbrook residents will have a chance to learn about proposed plans to expand a natural gas pipeline that runs through the city at a public hearing this Thursday.
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, operators of a pipeline that runs from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts, will hold a public information meeting on April 12 at 7 p.m. in room 114 at Westbrook High School to inform residents how the expansion could affect them.
With federal and state approval already in hand, the company is not obliged to seek Westbrook approval for extra pipeline and several new compressor facilities, one of which is in Westbrook.
“As a federally regulated utility, this project is not subject to review by the Westbrook Planning Board,” Mayor Bruce Chuluda said in a recent statement.
However, the company plans to hold the informational meeting so residents can be informed. The company has promised it would abide by state and local regulations regarding noise and would work with the community to ensure the new structure wouldn’t disturb residents.
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline is proposing to build five new compressor stations, in Eliot, Searsmont, Brewer, Woodchopping Ridge and Westbrook. The addition of the five new compressor stations is expected to increase pipeline capacity from 530 billion British Thermal Units to 750 billion Btu per day.
The company expects to spend about two years in construction and hopes to put the new compressor stations into operation by November 2008.
In a previous interview, company spokeswoman Marylee Hanley said safety concerns should not increase because gas flow would continue as it does, only faster. Hanley said there would be no storage of gas, which could present a target for terrorist acts. City Administrator Jerre Bryant said in a previous interview that he does not believe there will be any increased danger or inconvenience for residents of the city.
The Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, placed in operation on Dec. 1, 1999, runs 670 miles underground from Goldboro, Nova Scotia, to Dracut, Mass., where it connects with the North American Pipeline. The pipeline is owned jointly by Duke Energy, Emera Inc. and ExxonMobil Corp.
About 530 billion Btu per day of natural gas, originating in the Sable Island area off shore of Nova Scotia, travels through the pipeline daily to markets in Atlantic Canada and the U.S. Northeast.
The pipeline was built in the United States in three phases, the first of which placed 100 miles of 30-inch-diameter pipeline from Westbrook to Dracut, Mass., and began operation in December of 1999.
Two other phases bridged the first section with 24-inch-diameter pipe from Westbrook north 205 miles to the U.S-Canadian border in Baileyville, and from Dracut, Mass., to Methuen and Beverly, Mass. Along the stretch from Canada to Massachusetts are two compressor stations, one in Baileyville and one in Richmond.
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