Friday, November 28, 2014

Supervisor to host meeting on Mountain Valley Pipeline


Overall Pipeline

Supervisor to host meeting on Mountain Valley Pipeline

Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors member Jerry Hagerman will host a community information meeting on the proposed Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline Saturday, Nov. 29, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Gretna Volunteer Fire Department.

Hagerman, who represents the Callands-Gretna District, said Norfolk attorney Joseph T. Waldo will discuss and answer questions about landowners’ rights.

Hagerman met Waldo, who specializes in property rights and eminent domain, at a Preserve the New River Valley meeting on the pipeline in Blacksburg and invited the attorney to speak in Gretna.

“Several people have called me wanting more information about the pipeline,” Hagerman said. “A lot of the questions, I didn’t really feel qualified to answer.”

The supervisor said landowners want to know how much compensation they can expect and what their rights if they don’t want the pipeline on their property.

Hagerman said he hasn’t contacted Mountain Valley Pipeline representatives, but the company is welcome to attend the meeting.

EQT Corp. and NextEra Energy, which plan to build the 300-mile pipeline, have scheduled a community open house Monday, Dec. 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hampton Inn on McBride Lane in Gretna.

The public will have an opportunity to ask questions and talk with project team members about the pipeline.

EQT and NextEra announced plans for the pipeline earlier this year and are seeking approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The pipeline would run from Wetzel County, W. Va., through southwest Virginia to Pittsylvania County and connect with Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company’s compressor station in Chatham.

Estimated to cost $3 billion to $3.5 billion, the pipeline would pass through Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke, Franklin, and Pittsylvania counties.

Community meetings also are scheduled Dec. 16 at the Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount, Dec. 17 at Salem Civic Center, and Dec. 18 in Blacksburg.

Additional open houses will be scheduled in January 2015, the companies said.

Natalie Cox, a spokesman with EQT in Pittsburgh, Pa., said the project includes 15 to 20 miles of pipeline in the county and will affect about 120 landowners.

For more information, visit mountainvalleypipeline.info or call 844-MVP-Talk.
tim.davis@chathamstartribune.com
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