Washington cemetery officials to challenge pipeline project

KALAMA, Wash. (AP) — Officials at a Washington cemetery say they'll challenge a federal decision approving a natural gas pipeline that could encroach on the cemetery.


The Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/1SHXFox ) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the 3.1-mile pipeline earlier this month. Williams Co.-backed Northwest Pipeline would build the pipeline to supply gas to a proposed methanol plant at the Port of Kalama.

FERC's environmental review concluded that the construction could cut into a section of the parking lot at Mount Pleasant Cemetery but would have no long-term effects.

But cemetery district commissioner Bill Spencer says the pipeline's proposed route goes through land the district bought with an eye toward expansion, limiting development on the parcel.

The three-person cemetery commission recently voted to hire a lawyer to appeal the FERC decision.