Agency's Letter Reveals Wariness of Pipeline Project

A field supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has raised concerns over the need for a proposed pipeline that would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to upstate New York.

The Daily Star of Oneonta reports that David Stillwell wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week, questioning the necessity for a 120-mile, mostly underground pipeline from northeastern Pennsylvania to Schoharie County.

Stillwell recommends that existing pipeline infrastructure be considered for transporting the gas extracted in Pennsylvania before energy regulators approve the proposed Constitution Pipeline.

He also suggested various species of wildlife and wetlands are expected to be impacted by the project, which was the subject of three public meetings federal officials held last month in three upstate communities that would be impacted by a new pipeline.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press