Officials from Dominion discuss how the company would handle a spill if one were to happen. Officials met with the public on Monday at the Varna Community Association building to discuss the upgrades at the station in Dryden.
Matt Weinstein / staff video

Town of Dryden supervisor Jason Leifer moderates a question-and-answer session on Monday. The public information meeting was hosted by officials at Dominion to discuss the natural gas pipeline upgrades in Dryden. Don Houser, Dominion's state policy adviser, looks on.
(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)

The atmosphere was contentious Monday night as about 100 people stuffed into the Varna Community Association building for a public information session on the upgrades to the Borger Compressor Station in Dryden.

Officials from Dominion Energy – the Virginia-based company which owns the station – hosted the meeting to answer questions, address concerns from the community and deliver a presentation on the changes in progress at the station, which was interrupted several times by an eager audience. Two issues kept popping up during the public comment session: how much more natural gas will be added into the pipeline and will Dominion pause the project until closer examination of an on-site spill from 1998 is conducted?

With the upgrades currently underway, Dominion hopes to add 33,023 horsepower of compression to the existing state pipeline transmission system, which includes the Borger Compressor Station and a station in Horseheads. The project will allow the delivery of additional supplies of natural gas to National Grid distribution areas upstate to meet the growing consumer demand for the fuel. The project’s total cost is expected to be about $159 million.

"We appreciate the opportunity to talk with the community about our operations at Borger Station,” said Jen Kostyniuk, director of Dominion Energy communications. “The modifications we are making at Borger are minor and within the existing footprint of the station. We will continue to meet all requirements specified in the air permit issued by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.”

At the Dryden station, Dominion is adding three microturbines to increase electrical output and two gas cooling stations. Dominion officials were asked several times exactly how much more natural gas will be running through the pipeline but they said it depends on demand and the numbers, which are not publicly available, change often due to the demand.

About 100 people attended a public information session on Monday hosted by officials at Dominion to discuss the natural gas pipeline upgrades in Dryden.
(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)

A spill was reported at the Dryden facility in 1998, when it was owned by CNG Transmission. An investigation showed the concern was from petroleum byproducts including light gas distillates, lubricating oil and glycol. The spill was cleaned appropriately according to the DEC, although the full contamination could not be excavated at the time. The case was closed in 2001.

“We are under construction,” said Don Houser, state policy adviser for Dominion. Houser said as far as Dominion is concerned and unless told otherwise, the DEC has closed the case on the spill.

“The existing facility at Borger complies with NYDEC regulations designed to be protective of the environment,” Kostyniuk added. “Dominion is committed to environmental stewardship and continually seeks to improve its facilities whenever possible. We look forward to continuing our dialog with neighbors."

Don Houser, Dominion's state policy adviser, discusses the natural gas pipeline on Monday in a public information session hosted by officials at Dominion to discuss the pipeline upgrades in Dryden.
(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)

Some commenters also took issue with Dominion’s Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan. Walter Hang, of Toxics Targeting, who opposes the pipeline expansion, says the SWPPP Dominion sent to the state and Dryden is "incomplete, inadequate and factually incorrect for regulatory compliance purposes." Hang claims Dominion's New Market Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan failed to identify multiple wetlands, waterways and buffer zones within the approved and proposed revised limits of disturbance for the expansion of the Borger Compressor Station facility at 219 Ellis Hollow Creek Road.

Dominion stands behind their mapping of the station and said no wetlands would be disturbed. Dryden Town Supervisor Jason Leifer, who did his best to serve as moderator on Monday night, said he will send a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking for a closer look at SWPPP.

About 100 people attended a public information session on Monday hosted by officials at Dominion to discuss the natural gas pipeline upgrades in Dryden.
(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)