The state Public Service Board has cleared Vermont Gas Systems to install pipeline near power lines over concerns that a chemical used to treat utility poles could be disturbed by the construction.
Vermont Public Radio reports the board has approved a soil management plan from Vermont Gas that would define how the company would reduce risks of groundwater pollution as it installs its natural gas pipeline from Chittenden County to the Middlebury area.
In July, Vermont Gas approached the board after discovering the possibility that soil contaminated with pentachlorophenol, or PCP, could be disturbed by pipeline construction. The poles were treated with PCP, used as a wood preservative. The EPA has found it to be toxic.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
