OLEAN, N.Y. — The president of a Wellsville-based pipeline construction company says the state’s denial of a permit for the Northern Access Pipeline will mean the loss of work this summer for 325 of his employees.
Charles M. Joyce, president and CEO of Otis Eastern Services LLC, on Monday blamed politics, not the environment, for the state Department of Environmental Conservation negative decision on the National Fuel Gas Corp. (NFG) Clean Waters permit application.
Joyce said his contract for the fourth section — in Erie County north of Arcade — of the 97-mile pipeline running from McKean County in Pennsylvania to Niagara County in New York would have employed 325 of his pipeline construction workers.
“Multiple that by four,” Joyce said of the three other companies that had expected to be building pipeline across parts of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Erie and Niagara counties.
National Fuel Gas (NFG) estimated the pipeline would create between 1,000 and 1,200 pipeline jobs.
NFG said Monday it is analyzing the state’s denial of a water quality permit for the proposed $455 million Northern Access Pipeline.
There was no word from the Buffalo-based energy company whether it intends to sue the DEC over the denial of the permit, which was announced in an email at 11:22 p.m. Friday, minutes before a midnight deadline.
“While we are still analyzing the DEC’s rationale, the denial is purportedly based upon NYS DEC’s determination that … construction activities will impermissibly affect the quality of waters in the state, notwithstanding voluminous detailed studies prepared and submitted by the companies and our consultants that show any such effects are temporary and minor,” said Ronald J. Tanski, NFG’s president and chief executive officer.
“These construction activities would certainly have less effect than either exploding an entire bridge structure and dropping it into Cattaraugus Creek (referencing the old Route 219 bridge) or developing and continuously operating a massive construction zone in the middle of the Hudson River (Tappan Zee Bridge) for a minimum of five years, both NYS DEC approved projects,” Tanski said.
In denying the permit, DEC cited concerns about impacts on wetlands, streams and fish along the route.
“We and our contractors have a great record with respect to our construction practices,” Tanski said.
Joyce, who has been in the pipeline business since he was a teenager and has been with the company since 1972, said the DEC decision “was political, not environmental.”
This is not the first pipeline project Joyce’s company has lost due to DEC denying a wetlands permit. Joyce had also been contracted to build a section of the Millennium Pipeline in Orange County, which was blocked over water-quality concerns. A lawsuit has been filed against the DEC over the decision.
It’s not clear whether NFG will take legal action over denial of the Northern Access Pipeline permit. Joyce said he hopes National Fuel does take DEC to court over the decision.
Joyce said the methods and construction techniques utilized by his and other pipeline companies includes pumping streamwater around the cut in a stream crossing.
“These are issues we all know how to navigate,” he said. When his crews are done, “there is no permanent damage. It’s over in a short period of time.”
Joyce said pipeline crews set aside soils from wetlands and utilize a 50-foot right-of-way less than would be permitted in an agricultural field, for example. The equipment rests on wooden ties placed down to minimize environmental impact.
Joyce said that DEC cited NFG’s refusal to do more horizontal drilling under streams and wetlands as a reason for denying the permit. “Millennium (pipeline) agreed to drill all streams and wetlands on a much smaller project, yet they still did not get DEC approval.”
Joyce pointed out that Otis Eastern has installed thousands of stream and wetlands crossings across the country, “without any impact, without any of the impacts” noted by DEC.
“Many of these have been in New York state,” he said. “The decision is 100 percent political and I am sure the courts will see further challenges.”
A Business Council of New York State spokesman said the organization was “incredibly disappointed with the state’s decision to change the rules and impede construction of a critically needed natural gas pipeline.”
Darren Suarez, director of government affairs for the council, said, “Strict environmental regulation and adherence to high standards are not the adversary of good businesses.”
The pipeline’s impact would be “temporary and minor and are consistent with or exceed current standards. Of the 192 crossings classified as streams by the DEC, only 60 are perennial waterways and only a dozen or so are considered high-grade streams which sustain trout and other aquatic life.”
Suarez said the project would benefit upstate, bring abundant employment and provide critically needed natural gas.
