RICHMONDVILLE — A representative from Williams, the company that would build the proposed Constitution Pipeline, stopped by the Town of Richmondville Thursday, April 9 board meeting to give board and audience members an update on the project.

The project was originally proposed well over a decade ago but had been essentially dormant until Williams fairly recently filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to have it recertified. The 125-mile natural gas pipeline would start in Northeast Pennsylvania and run through four New York counties, including 31 miles in Schoharie County including the Town of Richmondville. It would end in the Town of Wright.

At the April 9 meeting, Mike Atchie of Williams' Community and Project Outreach Division explained the project is still in the scoping phase and that FERC is taking public comment and questions until 5 p.m. May 4. Those wishing to submit a comment can do so through the Public Participation section of the FERC website.

"We think there is definitely still a need for the project," Atchie said at the meeting. He added that the proposed route of the pipeline has not changed.

Atchie continued that Williams is hoping to get a go-ahead from FERC sometime in the third quarter of this year and start construction possibly later this year but more likely next year. He said the company is also asking FERC to waive having to obtain a permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the project still has a valid permit from Pennsylvania.

According to an information packet handed out to board and audience members at the April 9 meeting, the project would provide $295 million in labor income from construction and $105 million in total tax revenue during construction. There would be an estimated 2,500 total jobs supported during construction, including 1,600 construction jobs and 965 additional jobs in retail, real estate, restaurants and services, the information packet asserted.

It added the pipeline would provide enough energy for 3 million homes. Councilman Todd Sperbeck said he had been doing some online research and came across something that seemed to indicate the project would mean $3,780,000 in revenue just for the Town of Richmondville. Atchie said he wasn't sure if that was correct and would check into it.

"There is a lot of misinformation out there on this, like how it's supposed to run along the I-88 corridor and it's a long ways from the I-88 corridor," Sperbeck added. A map of the route of the pipeline included in the information packet shows it coming really close to I-88 for only a short distance in Schoharie County. Board members asked Atchie if he could provide more precise mapping of the route through Richmondville and he said he would look into that.

Sperbeck also made the point that the pipeline, if eventually constructed, would reduce the need for so many trucks and train cars moving through Richmondville carrying natural gas, and Atchie agreed it would be a safer situation. He added that Williams would repair any possible road damage that might happen during construction and restore it to the way it was "or hopefully better."

Atchie, who lives in Binghamton, told Richmondville board members he is their local contact on the project and can be contacted with questions, and can attend future board meetings if requested.

In other actions from the April 9 meeting, Highway Superintendent Brian Manchester reported his crew had been picking up loose brush around the town caused by some windy days. He added the highway department is starting ditching and grading operations on roads that need it.

"Hopefully winter is behind us," Manchester added. "We're starting to get the plows off the trucks."

Town Clerk-Tax Collector Maggie Smith announced that Deputy Clerk Joan Radliff is resigning her additional position of cleaner and the town needs to start looking for a replacement. When it was suggested a general advertisement be placed, Smith said to hold off on that for now because the job requires serious consideration as the cleaner has access to confidential records and it's a position that's traditionally been held by the Deputy Clerk.

The board voted unanimously "with regrets" to accept Radliff's resignation as cleaner and thanked her for her work in that position.