A public informational hearing is coming up June 15 on the controversial Columbia Gas Transmission natural gas pipeline on which construction through Harford and Baltimore counties was halted in late April over environmental and other issues.
The stoppage and what may come from the hearing are likely to have little, if any, impact regarding the approximately 3.5 miles of the pipeline's route in Harford County, from Monkton to Fallston, as much of the work has already been done.
The route of the Line MB Extension, as the project is called, closely parallels an existing Columbia line, except for the portion in Harford County.
Documents show that underground tunneling of the Little Gunpowder Falls in Monkton, on the Harford-Baltimore County line, as well as open trench crossings of several smaller streams, were finished well before a Baltimore County judge ordered the Maryland Department of the Environment to revise the permit it issued in April 2014 covering stream crossings and construction in wetlands and floodplain areas.
Judge Justin L. King said the department didn't adequately specify safeguards the company should follow in crossing more than 50 rivers and streams in constructing the $180 million project, nor were the affected property owners given an opportunity to comment. He also said the agency didn't adequately assess the project's potential impact on historic structures.
The June 15 hearing will be held at the banquet room of the Rockland Center on the Owings Mills Campus of Stevenson University at 100 Campus Circle in Owings Mills. There will be a poster session from 6:30 to 7 p.m., followed by the hearing. A public comment period opened Monday and will run through July 8. Comments can be emailed to Cheryl.Kerr@maryland.gov or sent to Kerr at the Maryland Department of the Environment, Wetlands and Waterways Program, 1800 Washington Blvd., Suite 430, Baltimore, Md. 21030-1708.
Property owners along the 21.1-mile pipeline route in both counties have fought the project at the federal and state levels, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allowed it to go forward, and the state followed with its approval.
In filings with federal and state regulators, Columbia said the MB project will provide needed redundancy and supply back-up for areas north and east of Baltimore, reducing the risk of service reductions and enhancing "reliability and flexibility of Columbia's pipeline facilities."
Jay Apperson, an MDE spokesperson, said the hearing is a chance for the public to learn the latest information regarding Columbia's application for the wetlands and waterways permit, which the judge's order put on hold.
Apperson said the public notice includes the Harford County section of the pipeline project, even though Columbia said last month it had finished laying the 26-inch wide pipeline in Harford and from Monkton to Cockeysville in Baltimore County.
"The nature of the public notice complies with the court order," Apperson explained in an email. "It provides a description of the location and nature of the activity, and it states that the proposed project could include both open-cut stream crossings and the horizontal directional drill (HDD) methods."
He said MDE's initial public notice regarding the permit application, based on information in that application, "mentioned only the use of open-cut stream crossings."
Depending on topographic and geotechnical conditions, HDD is considered less disruptive than open-cut, but also likely to be more expensive.
This first phase of the extension, which covers five miles from a metering station off Manor Road in Baltimore County to the Rutledge compressor station in Fallston, diverges from the existing line for about four miles starting in Monkton and the required crossing of the Little Gunpowder in a different location from the original line.
The Woodsbrook residential community, off Route 152 in Fallston, is where the diverging routes of the existing and new lines meet, just prior to the Rutledge station.
According to MDE documents and maps, the Little Gunpowder was crossed near its confluence with the Yellow Branch using HDD and "continued restoration activities are needed."
Other stream crossings in Harford included Yellow Branch and five of its unnamed tributaries and two unnamed tributaries on the West Branch of Winters Run. Open cut trenching was used to cross all seven.
On the segments of the streams where the crossings were planned, neither the Little Gunpowder nor Winters Run is classified as high quality Tier II stream by MDE under the Federal Clean Water Act; however, MDE documents note both have the Tier II classification farther downstream.
According to MDE: "States are required by the federal Clean Water Act to develop policies, guidance and implementation procedures to protect and maintain existing high quality waters and prevent them from degrading to the minimum allowable water quality.
"Tier II waters have chemical or biological characteristics that are significantly better than the minimum water quality requirements.All Tier II designations in Maryland are based on having healthy biological communities of fish and aquatic insects."
Impact maps on file with MDE, which show stream crossings and areas of wetlands and floodplains affected by the project, indicate that impacts to the Little Gunpowder "were avoided" by using HDD.
Impact maps for the other seven Harford stream crossings state: "Temporary impacts to these resources occurred during pipeline installation of Phase I; however, restoration activities will continue until final restoration is achieved."
MDE documents also indicate Columbia has completed planned cross connections with the existing line at Monkton and at Fallston/Rutledge.
The Baltimore Sun contributed to this story.