PERMIAN HIGHWAY PIPELINE PROJECT MAY GO AROUND BLANCO RIVER — Bulverde Spring Branch Back Porch News
In an August article by Asher Price in the Austin American Statesman, it was reported that Steven Kean, chief executive officer of Kinder Morgan, he is “rerouting the pipeline around – rather than under – the Blanco River.” Earlier this year a pipeline drilling mishap led to a spill of thousands of gallons of clay into an underground aquifer in Blanco County which affected some water wells. The CEO’s opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle came after musicians Willie Nelson and Paul Simon, with homes in the Hill Country, stated the pipeline project should be stopped. “When will we stop swapping the environment for a profit?” So far Kinder Morgan has side-stepped challenges in courts and at the Legislature to its 430-mile Permian Highway Pipeline, which will carry natural gas from West Texas to refineries on the Texas coast — including beneath Hays and Blanco counties.
The CEO wrote, “We have chosen the route carefully and paid landowners handsomely for the easements,” We will restore the land when construction is complete and have secured significant additional lands for endangered species habitat. Shutting down the pipeline, as some have demanded, denies these benefits and sends over 2,000 workers home months ahead of the project’s anticipated completion early next year. Drilling activities at the river have been permanently canceled.” Rerouting the project will result in two additional miles of pipeline.
The Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association sued Permian Highway Pipeline LLC and its managing partner, Kinder Morgan in federal court. The suit alleges the pipeline company violated the national Safe Drinking Water Act as it worked to construct the Permian Highway Pipeline. Kinder Morgan pumped 36,000 gallons of drilling fluid into the aquifer on March 28 as the company attempted to drill under the Blanco River, according to state records. The suit demands that Kinder Morgan clean up the contamination and agree to prohibit the use of the drilling fluid anywhere between Blanco, Wimberley and Kyle.
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