A statewide religious organization is urging Kentucky government to slow down and gather more information on the potential impacts of a proposed natural gas liquids pipeline.
Kentucky Council of Churches Director Marian McClure Taylor says her group wants a more cautious approach taken on the Bluegrass Pipeline, which would connect natural gas producers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia with export centers on the Gulf Coast.
“We don’t want accidents to happen, if they can be prevented,” Taylor said. “We don’t want to be in a situation later where we say you mean you didn’t have your best engineers take a look at the idea of how you were going to re-purpose those pipelines or how they’re going to be constructed or where the pressure stations are going to be.”
One proposed path of the pipeline would extend through northern Kentucky southward into Nelson, Larue, Hardin, Meade and Breckenridge counties.
The Council of Churches wants an official review of the pipeline’s environmental impacts and the establishment of a state board that would oversee such projects.
Bruce Scott, who heads the state Department for Environmental Protect, says his group already has a say over the pipeline’s path. He says officials from the department plan to meet with pipeline representatives soon to discuss environmental and other issues surrounding the project.
Company officials, meanwhile, are working to purchase access to land needed for the pipeline.
