Don’t uncork the champagne just yet.
By now, you’ve probably heard the news that ET Rover’s plans have dramatically changed. The Free Press, the Clarkston News, and MLive have more on the story. Rover has struck a deal with Vector Pipelines which will eliminate the need to build about 110 miles of pipe in some of the northern counties along the original route. But they still want to build about 100 miles through Michigan’s Lenawee, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties. That’s still a very serious concern.
And the news might be even worse. Another news outlet that follows the natural gas industry reports this morning that Vector is preparing for this expanded capacity. Here’s the sentence that has us worried:
With enough binding support, Vector could add a 42-inch diameter loop and additional compression, pending contract renewals and depending upon interest of new shippers.
A “loop” is a pipeline that runs parallel to an existing pipeline. So in this instance, what that means– possibly? potentially?– is that Vector is considering installing a second line next to the one already in place. Admittedly, that’s not very clear at this point and if that is the plan they would most likely have to go to FERC for a certificate. Nevertheless, this would mean construction and disruption on the properties of lots and lots of Michigan landowners, many of whom also have Line 6B on their land, construction and disruption of precisely the sort that those of us along Line 6B endured. So instead of ET Rover beating up on a bunch of new Michigan landowners, this could mean Enbridge once again beating up on many of the same landowners they’ve already beat up on, along with some others.
To be clear: at this point, none of this is certain yet; the details are hazy at best. We just don’t have enough information right now. However, it does appear that yesterday’s news might not be quite as good as it at first seemed. If and when we learn more, we will let you know. In the meantime, property owners along the Vector route might want to check their original easement agreements to see if they allow for additional pipelines or just one. Please let us know what you find out.