The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just announced that they are accepting comments on the proposed Western Expansion Pipeline III project. The project proposes to substantially increase the pressure in the existing natural gas liquid pipeline that runs through Diamond Tail, Las Huertas Creek, the Placitas Open Space, and the 3100 acre BLM “Buffalo” parcel. “Natural gas liquids” are substances like propane and butane, which are byproducts of natural gas wells.
ES-CA and the Las Placitas Association are primarily concerned about the continued safe operation of the pipeline in our community. To that end, we have engaged BLM on the lack of safety information in the Environmental Assessment, and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for safety records for this pipeline with the U.S. Office of Pipeline Safety. LPA and ES-CA representatives have also met with State pipeline safety officials on this issue. LPA and ES-CA will be submitting detailed comments regarding the safety of this project on behalf of their members.
The project Environmental Assessment link is located here on the LPA website. It is 155 page PDF document.
The public comment period ends April 26, 2013. Comments may be directed to Ms. Lorraine Salas, Project Manager, Bureau of Land Management, lsalas@blm.gov.