Rail-Trail signs option for pipeline easement

BY LAURA LEGERE

Times Shamrock Writer

The Rail-Trail Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania has signed an option for a pipeline easement in nearly 30 miles of its right of way with a Radnor, Pa.-based coal and pipeline company, the company announced on Wednesday (Jan. 11).

Penn Virginia Resource Partners LP is considering constructing a new natural gas pipeline to connect Marcellus Shale wells to the interstate Tennessee Gas Pipeline. The easement option signed with the rail-trail organization does not guarantee a pipeline will be built along theSusquehannaCountytrail.

The optioned easement extends 28.8 miles north from theTennesseepipeline in Union Dale through Ararat, Thompson, Lanesboro and other municipalities to theNew Yorkstate line.

William H. Shea Jr., CEO of Penn Virginia Resource Partners’ general partner, said in a statement that the option is “the first step in the development of a new outlet for the region’s natural gas production.” He added that the former railroad right-of-way is “ideally situated for pipeline construction” and will save the company from clearing a new utility corridor.

“The community will also benefit as the payments received by (Rail-Trail Council) will enable the council to make significant improvements to the trail,” he said.

The company did not disclose how much it paid for the option.

Rail-Trail Council President Kirk W. Newsom declined to say Wednesday how much the organization was paid.

Shea said the company plans to continue talks with gas producers as it considers building a 24-inch pipeline capable of transporting about 360 million cubic feet of gas per day to homes and businesses in the northeasternUnited States.

Before it signed the option, the nonprofit Rail-Trail Council negotiated with as many as six different pipeline companies in the last three years for part or all of the recreational corridor.

The council recently won two grants totaling nearly $600,000 from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to renovate two railroad bridges in Clifford Twp. and to reconstruct an unimproved, 7-mile section of the D&H Rail-Trail in Herrick and Ararat townships, north of a 10-mile renovated section opened in 2006.

One of the DCNR grants was a $500,000 match that unlocked a $1 million federal grant to rebuild the 7-mile trail section.