The Ozark Gas Transmission's 159-mile path across Arkansas includes this section in Conway County near Plummerville.
A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order revealed a new wrinkle of discontent about a pipeline project in the state.
In the June 1 order approving Ozark Gas Transmission’s abandonment of a 159-mile segment of a natural gas pipeline, the commission noted the company’s plan to lease the pipeline to Magellan Pipeline Co. LP “for conversion to refined petroleum products.” Ozark Gas Transmission is wholly owned by Spectra Energy Partners LP, which was formed by Spectra Energy Corp.
Spectra was in the news as the owner of a pipeline that ruptured last week under the Arkansas River.
And you may recall that Magellan, a subsidiary of Magellan Midstream Partners LP of Tulsa, is planning a pipeline from the company’s Fort Smith terminal to Little Rock. The pipeline is expected to transport up to 75,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products.
The abandonment did not go without opposition: Conway Corp. and the Conway County Regional Water Distribution District filed an objection to the proposal late last year, citing the possibility of a leak or spill into the city’s drinking water supply.
As it turns out, the Ozark pipeline (and by extension the proposed refined petroleum pipeline) cuts through the headwaters of Cypress Creek, which feeds into Brewer Lake in Conway County and runs parallel to the creek for about 4 miles.
This matters to the people of Conway and Faulkner counties because about 80,000 of them get their drinking water from the lake, which could become contaminated if the aged, converted pipeline leaked.
The pipeline also crosses the area’s backup water source: the Cadron Creek watershed.
The FERC wrote in its order that once the pipeline was abandoned, it would be up to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to regulate the use of the line.
Bruce Heine, director of government and media affairs for Magellan Midstream, said in an email that “Pipelines remain the safest, most reliable and [cost] effective mode of transportation for liquid energy.” He said Magellan still plans to use the existing pipeline, but that “we have met with Conway Corp. officials to address their questions related to this project.”
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