A federal appeals court has temporarily stopped construction on an 8-mile portion of the NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline in Green, Ohio. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati made the decision on Nov. 22 in a 2-1 vote, Columbus Alive reported. The Court has not announced a date for a full hearing.
The city of Green challenged a permit issued by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), saying that the agency "ignored pipeline routes and relied on NEXUS-supplied information about wetlands that was unreliable and insufficient," Columbus Alive reported. According to Green, if construction on the pipeline were to proceed as per the permit, the city would see 28 wetlands damaged, along with aesthetic, recreational and economic destruction.
"In fact, Ohio EPA made a sound and reasonable determination of the wetlands' quality and that Ohio's water quality standards will be protected," said Ohio EPA spokesman James Lee. "We look forward to further defending our conclusions as the court more fully considers the case on the merits."
NEXUS gained approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin construction on the 255-mile pipeline in October. When complete, the pipeline will connect to other pipelines in Michigan, carrying 1.5 billion cu. ft. of natural gas from Utica and Marcellus shales to Ohio, Michigan and Canada every day, Columbus Alive reported.
