TheWeekInCongress.com
Week Ending December 16, 2005
S.1310 A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to allow the Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation to increase the diameter of a natural gas pipeline located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, to allow certain commercial vehicles to continue to use Route 209 within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and to extend the termination date of the National Park System Advisory Board to January 1, 2007.
BRIEF
The bill title appears to attend to three matters but the bill text does not refer to ‘continued use by commercial vehicles of Route 209’ within the Recreation Area.
It allows for the Secretary of Interior to grant an easement to Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation to allow enlargement of a gas transmission pipeline from 14 inches to 20 inches in a way that will not disturb the recreational values of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
The bill also extends the existence of the National Park Service Advisory Board that was destined to sunset in 2006
Sponsor: Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
Vote: Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent December 16, 2005
Cost to the taxpayers: “CBO estimates that implementing S. 1310 would have no significant effect on the federal budget. We expect that the cost of providing an easement and a construction permit to the Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation would be less than $100,000 and would be offset by new administrative fees. Assuming the availability of appropriated funds, we estimate that supporting the National Park System advisory board would cost about $200,000 a year for each of the next two years.”
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MORE INFORMATION
The Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation owns and operates the utility right of way to a major gas pipeline traversing Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania. The pipeline is a critical link in the natural gas transmission network between production facilities in Appalachia and the South to consumers in the Northeast. The pipeline right-of-way crosses the park for 3.5 miles. When the park was created authority was granted to permit expansion of the pipeline to meet demands of consumers for all but two parcels of land (approximately 800 feet) which contained the pipeline right-of-way. S. 1310 will grant the National Park Service the authority to change the rights-of-way for the two land parcels to be consistent with the remainder of the right-of-way, thus allowing Columbia Gas to expand the size of the pipeline to meet current demands.
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No reproduction or distribution without written permission from TheWeekInCongress.com.