Pipeline foes take case to Washington
Coalition asking senators to hold up FERC appointments
Paul L. Gierosky
MEDINA – Two new members may soon take seats on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission despite protests from environmental groups who want to see the entire commission reviewed by Congress.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said she would like a quick confirmation of Robert Powelson and Neil Chatterjee after her committee held confirmation hearings May 25 on their nominations to the FERC.
Among those opposed to the nominations is York Township resident Paul Gierosky, who traveled to Washington just before the confirmation hearings to ask senators not to act on the nominations of Powelson and Chatterjee.
Gierosky was among 40 people from different parts of the country who scheduled appointments with staff members for 35 senators, including most of the 23 who are members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“We asked that they not vote to pass any of the nominations out of committee until Congress does a thorough review of how FERC functions,” Gierosky said.
Gierosky joined a coalition of more than 160 organizations have pledged to fight President Donald Trump’s nominations to FERC. Their message is simple: Until Congress investigates the agency’s abuses of power and law, the Senate must not approve new FERC commissioners.
The nominations to FERC are important to Gierosky and others in Medina County because without new members, the agency does not have the quorum necessary to give final approval to the proposed NEXUS Pipeline and other oil and gas projects around the country.
Gierosky is a leader in the Coalition to Reroute Nexus, a grassroots organization opposed to the $2 billion pipeline passing through Medina County on its way to deliver natural gas from wells in Eastern Ohio to Windsor, Ontario in Canada.
He and other pipeline opponents say construction of the massive pipeline poses a safety risk to those in its path, threatens the environment and denies people of their constitutional rights through the use of eminent domain to take control of their property against their wishes.
Gierosky said FERC’s environmental impact study on the NEXUS Pipeline was flawed when it concluded the pipeline does not pose serious threats to the air, land and water where it will be built. For proof, he points to the Rover Pipeline, which is now under construction along a route across Ohio that parallels the proposed NEXUS project.
Developers of that project were fined $431,000 by the Ohio EPA last month for the inadvertent release of two million gallons of drilling mud that contaminated the Tuscarawas River wetland in Stark County.
NEXUS opponents aren’t relying entirely on their appeals to senators to hold up construction of the pipeline, however. Gierosky also joined dozens of others property owners in Northern Ohio who filed a complaint in federal court asking the court to enjoin FERC from issuing a certificate for the NEXUS Pipeline.
The complaint claims the pipeline project strips property owners of their rights, puts them in physical jeopardy, violates the plaintiffs due process rights and violates the National Environmental Policy Act and Natural Gas Act which prohibit the use of eminent domain for an export pipeline.
Sixty-four property owners are listed as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit and Gierosky is encouraging other property owners to intervene in the case. Intervening could mean asking the court to become a party and participate in the proceeding or it could involve filing an amicus curie brief in support of a position. Those interested in participating should contact attorney David Mucklow, who filed the complaint in Akron.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said she would like a quick confirmation of Robert Powelson and Neil Chatterjee after her committee held confirmation hearings May 25 on their nominations to the FERC.
Among those opposed to the nominations is York Township resident Paul Gierosky, who traveled to Washington just before the confirmation hearings to ask senators not to act on the nominations of Powelson and Chatterjee.
Gierosky was among 40 people from different parts of the country who scheduled appointments with staff members for 35 senators, including most of the 23 who are members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“We asked that they not vote to pass any of the nominations out of committee until Congress does a thorough review of how FERC functions,” Gierosky said.
Gierosky joined a coalition of more than 160 organizations have pledged to fight President Donald Trump’s nominations to FERC. Their message is simple: Until Congress investigates the agency’s abuses of power and law, the Senate must not approve new FERC commissioners.
The nominations to FERC are important to Gierosky and others in Medina County because without new members, the agency does not have the quorum necessary to give final approval to the proposed NEXUS Pipeline and other oil and gas projects around the country.
Gierosky is a leader in the Coalition to Reroute Nexus, a grassroots organization opposed to the $2 billion pipeline passing through Medina County on its way to deliver natural gas from wells in Eastern Ohio to Windsor, Ontario in Canada.
He and other pipeline opponents say construction of the massive pipeline poses a safety risk to those in its path, threatens the environment and denies people of their constitutional rights through the use of eminent domain to take control of their property against their wishes.
Gierosky said FERC’s environmental impact study on the NEXUS Pipeline was flawed when it concluded the pipeline does not pose serious threats to the air, land and water where it will be built. For proof, he points to the Rover Pipeline, which is now under construction along a route across Ohio that parallels the proposed NEXUS project.
Developers of that project were fined $431,000 by the Ohio EPA last month for the inadvertent release of two million gallons of drilling mud that contaminated the Tuscarawas River wetland in Stark County.
NEXUS opponents aren’t relying entirely on their appeals to senators to hold up construction of the pipeline, however. Gierosky also joined dozens of others property owners in Northern Ohio who filed a complaint in federal court asking the court to enjoin FERC from issuing a certificate for the NEXUS Pipeline.
The complaint claims the pipeline project strips property owners of their rights, puts them in physical jeopardy, violates the plaintiffs due process rights and violates the National Environmental Policy Act and Natural Gas Act which prohibit the use of eminent domain for an export pipeline.
Sixty-four property owners are listed as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit and Gierosky is encouraging other property owners to intervene in the case. Intervening could mean asking the court to become a party and participate in the proceeding or it could involve filing an amicus curie brief in support of a position. Those interested in participating should contact attorney David Mucklow, who filed the complaint in Akron.