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Pipeline Company Won't Seek Public Utility Status, After All

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

A pipeline clearing in Tioga County


The Laser Northeast Gathering Co, which is building a 30-mile pipeline in northeastern Pennsylvania, has decided not to try and classify itself as a public utility. As the AP’s Marc Levy reports, that “would have exposed it to safety standards but moved it a step toward taking private property without an owner’s approval..
More from his report:  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A company that is building a 30-mile pipeline to transport natural gas from Marcellus Shale wells in northern Pennsylvania said Monday it is no longer seeking public utility status for the project, which would have exposed it to safety standards but moved it a step toward taking private property without an owner’s approval.
The $55 million pipeline, which will stretch from heavily drilled Susquehanna County and end at the Millennium Pipeline that runs across New York’s southern tier, is one of many being built in Pennsylvania in conjunction with the three-year-old Marcellus Shale drilling boom.
The chairman and CEO of Laser Northeast Gathering Co. LLC, Thomas Karam, said the company’s business model has changed, but did not say why or give many details.
“We’ve made the business decision to focus our business and growth to serve a limited number of customers,” he said in a statement.

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