Trustees Approve Forming Gas Utility

RFH 2010, Featured Articles, Natural Gas

Wed, Feb 15, 2012

Hamilton is one step closer to having natural gas available to heat institutional buildings, businesses and residents' homes.

The village Board of Trustees Tuesday night unanimously approved forming a municipal utility to purchase and resell natural gas. The next step is for registered voters in the village to approve creating the utility in a referendum April 17 from noon to 9 p.m.

Numerous residents asked a variety of questions and made comments during the public hearing held before the vote by the trustees. Most had to do with rates, when natural gas might be available to residential customers and the source of the gas that would be consumed.

Several residents expressed concern that the natural gas not be purchased from companies using the controversial technique of hydrofracturing -- a.k.a. fracking -- to recover gas from the Marcellus shale formation that underlies much of this region.

Village Administrator Sean Graham (in photo), the village's point person on the natural gas project, said the village had three purchase options. It can buy from the companies which own two pipelines that run north of the village -- Tennessee Gas Pipeline or Dominion -- or from Norse Energy Corp., the company that has drilled for much of the natural gas found in southern Madison County.

When asked if the village could buy natural gas not produced by fracking, Graham said there was no way to know the origin of the gas in the pipelines as the two major ones accept gas from wells from Maine to Texas.

Several people asked when natural gas might be available to potential residential customers. Peter Yacavone was one such resident. He said he is anxious to have access to natural gas because his fuel oil bill has increased four-fold in the four years he has lived in the village.

Graham said preliminary plans call for connecting the three major users that have expressed interest in natural gas: Colgate, Community Memorial Hospital and HCS. Then, it would be made available to residents and businesses throughout the village if it were economically feasible. Graham said it might not make financial sense to run a line the length of a street to reach just one customer.

However, Trustee Russ Lura, who is part of the village's Municipal Utility Corp., said study is being given to making the gas more widely available from the outset.

Bob McVaugh, chairman of the village Planning Board, said that available natural gas could help spur residential development. He said this would expand the village tax base.

John Pumilio, Colgate's director of sustainability, said that while natural gas is an improvement over fuel oil he hoped the village would also work towards using more renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Graham said the MUC is exploring alternative fuels, but the concern is that funding for such projects is drying up.

During his presentation at the public hearing, Graham said the project could cost between $2.5 and $6 million, which the village would bond for. Purchases of gas by Colgate, the hospital and HCS would make the project economically viable.

Graham said the village will hold several public information meetings between now and the time of the vote.

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