The companies seeking to build a natural gas liquids pipeline across Kentucky and Ohio have submitted a permit application to the Louisville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.If it's built, the Bluegrass Pipeline will carry natural gas liquids from drilling fields in the Northeast to the Gulf of Mexico. These liquids are the byproducts of natural gas drilling: materials like propane, butane and ethane. A lot of the pipeline's route involves repurposing existing infrastructure, but there's 500 miles of new pipeline proposed, crossing Ohio and Central Kentucky.Now, the project's organizers have submitted an application for a permit to the Louisville District of the Army Corps of Engineers, as they're required to do for activities that would potentially affect wetlands, streams and navigable waterways. A Corps spokeswoman says the application isn't complete--the companies didn't identify all of the waters that will be affected--so, they'll have to resubmit at some point.Once the Army Corps has a complete application, regulators will decide whether a full Environmental Impact Study is necessary. The pipeline's opponents have been advocating for a full EIS, which can take up to a year.I've filed an Open Records Request for the permit application, and will post it when I get it.Click here for more WFPL coverage of the Bluegrass Pipeline.
