Naked City

Environmental and neighborhood activists had an opportunity Monday to ask questions about a stealth natural gas pipeline project that has already won support from the city. But they said they left the meeting with few answers and still more questions.

Last May, the City Council agreed to purchase natural gas for Austin Energy's new Sand Hill Energy Center in Southeast Austin from Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P., which plans to move the gas through a line known as the Rancho Pipeline that runs along much the same path, and in some points only a few feet from, the Longhorn Pipeline. Seeing as City Hall fought Longhorn in court, in D.C., and with its own ordinances, activists who joined the city in that long-running battle are wondering why they were left out of the loop on this deal.

"They used us to help fight Longhorn and then they don't even tell us about this? That's not right," said Marguerite Jones, one of the more active anti-Longhorn activists. She said Kinder Morgan and AE officials offered assurances on the safety of the pipeline, which, like Longhorn, will pass through South Austin neighborhoods. But she wants more than their word alone. "I want more public meetings on this," Jones said. "They're telling us it's safe, but we need to see hard data to be convinced." Also, while Rancho's natural gas would seem to be less potentially threatening to local groundwater supplies than Longhorn's gasoline, environmentalists are still worried about the pipeline's impact. Local activist Stefan Wray has produced a background document on the Kinder Morgan project, available at www.iconmedia.org/rancho.

Meanwhile, the City Council is scheduled to extract some teeth from its pipeline safety ordinance – passed in the wake of the Longhorn fracas – at today's (Thursday) meeting. The council will formally repeal the requirement that pipeline operators carry liability insurance, after U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks struck down that portion of the ordinance in a ruling last year.