WILL TWO PROPOSED ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATURAL GAS PIPELINES GET BUIILT?

Federal regulators are recommending approval of two natural gas pipelines that could sharply increase fuel shipments from the Rockies to population centers in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

The Rockies hold an estimated 375 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or almost as much as the Gulf of Mexico.

The fuel has been promoted as a less-polluting alternative to coal because it emits less greenhouse gas. Yet moves to crank open the spigot in the Rockies are getting pushback from environmentalists worried about the growing number of pipelines crisscrossing the West.

Combined, the two latest proposals would move almost 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day — enough to fuel about 9 million homes. That would amount to a roughly 25 percent increase over current gas exports from Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to make final decisions on the Bison and Ruby pipelines in the next two to three months, said agency spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen. Construction could begin by spring.

Building the pipelines — each hundreds of miles long — would entail crossing more than 1,200 streams and other bodies of water and disturbing thousands of acres of undeveloped land, according to recent environmental studies by the commission's staff.

TransCanada's $610 million, 310-mile Bison pipeline would run from Gillette, Wyo., through southeastern Montana to Morton County, N.D. From there, the line would feed into other pipelines serving the Midwest.

El Paso Corp.'s $3 billion Ruby pipeline would run from Opal, Wyo., to Malin, Ore., passing through Utah and Nevada along a 675-mile route.

Environmentalists have singled out the Ruby pipeline as particularly damaging because of its route through the remote wilds of northern Nevada. Also, horse advocates claim the project is prompting the removal of wild mustang herds along the proposed route by the Bureau of Land Management.

But commission staff concluded the environmental effects would be outweighed by the economic benefits of the pipelines, including roughly $30 million in annual property taxes. They also said the routes chosen minimized harm to the environment.

WILL THE ECO-NUTSIES STOP THESE PIPELINES!?! WILL THEY BE ABLE TO PREVENT US FROM USING THESE 375 TRILLION CUBIC FEET OF GAS?!

I SURE HOPE NOT.

BUT THE ANTI-BUSINESS LEFTIES ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE A REASON FOR STOPPING INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT - EVEN OF GAS/COAL "ALTERNATIVES" - LIKE THE WIND FARM IN NANTUCKET.

TO INCREASE OUR PROSPERITY AND IMPROVE OUR LIVING STANDARDS AND LIFE SPANS WE NEED MORE ENERGY.

THESE GAS DEPOSITS COULD HELP.

PREVENTING THEM WILL ONLY CAUSE MORE HUMAN HARDSHIP - SOMETHING THE ECO-LEFTIES SEEM NOT TO CARE A WHIT ABOUT.

I'LL TELL YA ONE THING FER SURE: SARAH PALIN WOULD GET THEM BUILT.