A group of concerned citizens urged Carbon County officials to fight for them against a proposed natural gas pipeline that is scheduled to snake its way through the upper portion of the county over the next few years.

Chuck Weber of Albrightsville, accompanied by a few members of the group Save Carbon County, approached the county commissioners Thursday to point out some of their most recent findings and public concerns about the proposed PennEast pipeline.The 114-mile, 36-inch pipeline route is projected to travel through Kidder, Penn Forest, Towamensing and Lower Towamensing townships in Carbon County on its way to New Jersey.Weber told the board that the pipeline that will be installed only 3 to 4 feet underground through Carbon County is a Class 1 pipeline, the thinnest pipe allowed by regulation and is the least "psi rated."By contrast, Weber said that the pipeline that will go through New Jersey is Class 4, the thickest-walled pipe."We believe that Pennsylvanians should receive the same consideration regardless of what regulations may allow," he said.In addition, Weber also said that pipeline inspections, which are required every seven years, will most likely be done by air rather than an inspector walking the lines. This could be because there are only 12 authorized inspectors in the state.Weber also said that UGI, which is a lead partner in the consortium has never built or maintained this size pipeline before."I am telling you this because we hope that as commissioners for our county you will be active in the process of reviewing and approving things before the construction begins," Weber said."You can accomplish this task if you are registered as an intervener before Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. You can have a say and challenge certain decisions they make."Dr. Sue Lewine of Save Carbon County explained that interveners have the right to challenge FERC's decisions, noting that anyone can become an intervener by registering on

ferconline.ferc.gov by Oct. 14.The commissioners spoke out about the project and the information provided to them by Weber, saying that they do have some major concerns.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard specifically took issue with the pipe that Weber said would be laid.Commissioner William O'Gurek said that he felt FERC wasn't listening to the residents on the project in the past during a hearing at Penn's Peak and wondered why they would listen to people moving forward.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein spoke about concerns on the emergency responder side, saying that fires from natural gas are not typical disasters and can be extremely dangerous to the area and the responders if not trained properly.In the end, the commissioners agreed that they feel strongly enough to try to intervene in the process and help the residents fight and said that they would take action next week regarding it.