For more than six years, conservation advocates and Kentucky’s largest utility have been at odds over the construction of a 12 mile natural gas pipeline that cuts through a section of Bernheim Forest and Arboretum’s protected Cedar Grove Wildlife Corridor.
In December, 2024, the Kentucky Supreme Court decided it would not review an appeals court ruling that allowed Louisville Gas & Electric Co to condemn the mile-long stretch of forest-owned land. The clearing of the forest began in April, and since then, Bernheim’s president and CEO Mark Wourms said the transformation has been sobering.
“Particularly when you realize that this whole swath had these 90-foot tall oaks right down this way, those are gone,” Wourms said.
Throughout the process, the conservation team at Bernheim has outlined the risks associated with the construction of LG&E’s Bullitt County Pipeline, including threats to local water quality, endangered species, erosion and the sedimentation buildup in nearby streams.
Wourms said there’s little confidence that the pipeline will remain a natural gas conveyor, as he has not seen progress in LG&E’s commitment to producing green energy and reducing their carbon footprint.
“LG&E and KU need to change their ways. If they want to provide energy to this community, great. But they know as well as we do that that should be green energy, that should be energy coming from renewable sources. And right now, they’re not doing anything to meet their carbon reduction goals. It’s smoke and mirrors,” Wourms said.
The threat to wildlife and microhabitat
The cleared swath of land through Bernheim’s forest runs for roughly a mile through the Cedar Grove Wildlife Corridor, Wourms said the destruction of that forest means further threats to species that have relied on the forest for cover.
“Our goal is to connect Bernheim up to the Salt River and down to the Rolling Fork north and south of us. And that would allow large wildlife in particular to move, possibly in response to climate change. Even a 100-foot swath cleared across the forest can be a barrier to some species. They don’t want to be exposed, they don’t want the heat, they don’t want to be exposed to predators. Forests are their home, not the open,” Wourms said.
While the pipeline puts a corridor for large wildlife at risk, Bernheim’s conservation director Andrew Berry explained that the risk for smaller species is even greater.
Mere feet from the cleared swath of land lies one of only 30 sites across the world where a globally imperiled species of micro snail can be found - the Bluff Vertigo Snail.
“In Kentucky, it has only been documented in Bernheim forest. And we only know of four other locations where it’s ever been seen in Bernheim forest. This bluff is one of them,” Berry said.
The snails are barely visible to the naked eye, measuring less than two millimeters. Berry said they’re a highly social species, clustering in small divots in limestone bluffs. They thrive in micro-climates, and with the overhead tree canopy cleared, the temperature of the snails’ rock has dramatically increased.
He worries about what that means for the species’ future.
“You’ve got this ancient rock, and it’s not just the snails. It’s stuff like the hepatica, the cliffbrake fern, the hydrangea that’s hanging out here, these are all species that have been evolving and living on this rock for longer than thousands of years, probably millions of years. They really depend on these microclimates like we have here on this rock, and we got them to avoid blasting the rock, but now my concern is how is this opening over here from the pipeline going to impact this microhabitat?” Berry asked.
Across the mile-long stretch of cleared forest, Berry said countless habitats like the one found on the bluff face similar impacts.
Water quality
In the roughly five months since construction began on the pipeline, dirt and dust from the clearing of the forest has transformed Lickskillet Creek, a waterway that runs directly to Cedar Creek. Berry said that the creek is an invaluable water resource for the state of Kentucky.
He says what was once a clear, rock-bottomed stream is now caked with a fine sediment that’s settled between the rocks of the creek bed, eliminating vital habitats for native species far downstream from the construction site.
However, Berry says LG&E isn’t completely at fault for the potentially long-term water quality impacts.
“They did what was required of them. They went to the Division of Water, they got their water quality certification that said the impacts from this construction were going to be temporary, and that they weren’t going to be substantial enough to pose a serious risk to this stream,” he said.
Berry said the impacts to water quality are not isolated to Lickskillet Creek - LG&E acquired the permits from the Army Corps of Engineers to make any necessary changes to all waterways across the 12-mile stretch of the pipeline’s construction.
“So, it’s not just this Lickskillet Tributary that’s being impacted, it’s Green’s Branch, it’s Rocky Run, it’s Cox’s Creek, it’s all these ones up and down through there. And I think it’s worth the Division of Water taking a second look now that some of the construction is started to see how these impacts are really playing out in these streams,” Berry said.
Walking along the cleared swath of land, Berry detailed another concern that he says LG&E has been up front with Bernheim in addressing. In order to stabilize a section of the pipeline that will run through a knob, or hill, the utility company needs to utilize bentonite clay.
“That stuff has been blowing out and blowing into the creek, and it’s happened twice,” Berry said.
The result of one of those blowouts was visible, with the gray clay splattered across nearby vegetation and in Lickskillet creek. Long-term impacts to the waterway could include decreased oxygen and visibility for species that live in the stream.
The payoff
A representative from LG&E did not respond to a request for comment related to this story. However, the utility’s website outlines the region’s rapid growth and the growing necessity for more power in Bullitt County. According to LG&E’s website, the county’s population is increasing by more than 1,200 residents a year. The utility says that growth accounts for the addition of hundreds of new homes and more than 1 million square feet of businesses each year.
A statement on their website reads, “We are confident that this project, as currently planned, will meet the growing energy demands in the area in the least-cost fashion and is the least impactful to the environment.”
Wourms disagrees with that claim.
“Our argument was, ‘well then, let’s put in some green energy and meet that growth without carbon fuels.’ Because, honestly, this pipeline is designed for natural gas, but in the future, it could be used for other kinds of products and we have no say in that,” he said.
LG&E maintains that when Bernheim acquired the forest in 2018, the conservation team was aware of the proposed pipeline route. They add that the easement is a small portion of Bernheim’s land and does not impact recreational areas that are open to the public.
Berry and Wourms were not concerned with the impact to park visitors. They worried about the impacts to protected species, water quality, and the precedent that a future of fossil fuel use would mean for the region.
“We don’t want to hold up economic growth, we don’t think we ever have, but we also think that economic growth can be done sustainably, can be smarter, can be healthier, can provide longer-term good. That’s what we were fighting for,” Wourms said.
The future of the Cedar Grove Wildlife Corridor
“You know, it’s all about making the best out of the situation. You know, we lost. They put the pipeline in, what do we do after that? We want to make it as functioning, as resilient as we can as a habitat,” Berry said.
He added that as long as LG&E can stick to their proposed timeline to have construction complete in October, Bernheim can begin seeding the area as a large pollinator habitat.
“We’re going to try to work with them to assure as little environmental impact as we can, and of course encourage them to do everything they can to restore habitat. It won’t ever be forests again, but it could become this beautiful meadow pollinator kind of mix. And that provides for a lot of wildlife,” Wourms said.
Berry described the future of the site, scattering various types of milkweed, black-eyed Susan and mountain mint.
“Just a whole bunch of stuff that blooms all throughout the year, providing food sources for all the butterflies, bees, grassland birds, finches, then through the winter it’ll provide habitat for everything from rabbits to the mice and everything at the bottom of the food chain, all the way through the larger animals,” Berry said.
LG&E’s website said they have not established a date for new or extended services to the Bullitt County area, but the utility plans to start service through the new pipeline by the beginning of 2026.
