Pipeline Ditch Could Cost Adams County $700,000
NATCHEZ, MS (AP) — Gulf Coast Synthetic Fuel Center — a subsidiary of Rentech, the former owners of the International Paper property — intends to abandon a natural gas pipeline that runs through Tensas and Concordia Parish in Louisiana and into Adams County.
Vershal Hogan with The Natchez Democrat reports the line ran from a gas field near Lake St. John, where it supplied the natural gas needs of the IP plant. International Paper closed the plant in 2003.
While Gulf Coast Synthetic Fuel Center has announcement the abandonment, Adams County officials say the county owns the pipeline.
Officials said the cost of abandoning the pipeline is about $700,000. Of that, between $75,000 and $100,000 would be for legal and regulatory filing fees, while the remainder would be to make up the costs of environmental impact studies.
Board of Supervisors Attorney Scott Slover said getting the pipeline back to an operational state would cost about $350,000.
"The county has some potential industrial clients who are interested in the IP property, and some of those could use the pipeline as an auxiliary (pipeline)," he said. "If the right client comes on, there's the chance of the pipeline staying on as an auxiliary."
