Gas line is back on schedule with resolution of dispute

By Lynn Hotaling

PSNC Energy and a group of Balsam residents have settled their dispute, allowing construction of the gas pipeline to continue in the Willets Road area.

"We have reached an amicable agreement that allowed us to complete construction (in that area)," said PSNC spokesman Heidi Henderson. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The July 29 agreement should allow completion of the pipeline on schedule, she said.

"We're still anticipating getting gas service to Western Carolina University by the end of August," Henderson said. "Officially, WCU will be our first customer."

Prior to the settlement agreement, construction had ceased on the pipeline near Willets Road. Residents filed a formal complaint with the N.C. Utilities Commission after construction of the line was diverted from U.S. 23-74 to Willets Road, onto what PSNC maintained was an N.C. Department of Transportation right of way, to avoid a highway overpass.

Community residents questioned whether DOT could hold a legal right of way on a road residents said the state abandoned years ago.

Residents succeeded in winning a temporary restraining order from the Utilities Commission in late June; however, a July 9 ruling lifted that order.

The Utilities Commission's Public Staff initially assisted the residents in their efforts to stop the pipeline from being placed in their neighborhood but is no longer involved, said Jan Larsen of the Public Staff.

"The commission determined it was a property dispute and doesn't involve us," Larsen said Tuesday. "We got a call from one of the complainants that they had agreed to settle for a certain amount of money."

"It was never our intention to slow (PSNC) down or stop the project," Larsen said. "We just thought (PSNC) was doing it the wrong way."

Construction of the new gas line has caused some traffic problems along N.C. 107 and S.R. 1002 but shouldn't cause a problem for parents and students at Fairview and Smoky Mountain High, said Henderson.

Construction is almost completed in that area, and while motorists may encounter partial lane closings between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., all lanes should be open during the times students are traveling to and from school, she said.

Back to Archive: 08/08/02.