The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to delay approval of a major gas pipeline expansion.
Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corporation, or Transco, wants to expand 3.4 miles of gas pipeline from 30 inches to 42 inches in diameter. The construction of the project would run partially through western Fairfax County.
The plan has come under fire from residents who say they weren’t told about above-ground components of the expansion until recently. And the Fairfax County Park Authority has compiled a range of impacts to parks and wetlands the project could bring, including a proposal to withdraw 1.4 million gallons of water from Cub Run to test the pipe.
Virginia Run Community Association President Tom Martin said Transco didn’t discuss with affected homeowners a planned above-ground facility that would house testing equipment until after the intervention of U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-District 10. The facility, he said, would sit on property owned by the homeowners association.
An initial Transco meeting with the association took place last January.
“It really wasn’t until November that we met with Transco that we were fully aware of all they were going to put up there,” he said.
FERC would have final say in the pipeline expansion. Wolf has also asked for a delay on the decision.
Transco spokesman Christopher Stockton wouldn’t comment on the Fairfax County board’s resolution because the company hadn’t yet seen it.
“However, we will say that we have worked in good faith with the Virginia Run community throughout the FERC process, and we are hopeful that the FERC will make a decision in a timely manner which allows us proceed in order to meet our customers’ in-service date requirements,” he said by e-mail.
