The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has joined in the fight against a natural gas pipeline under construction that crosses into Livingston County.

By a 7-0 vote Wednesday night the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution reiterating opposition to construction of the ET Rover natural gas pipeline, in particular a newly revealed rerouting which would place the 42-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline extremely close to Silver Lake in Dexter Township and underneath all three access drives to a YMCA camp that has officials worried they would be cut off in case of an emergency along with approximately 90 residences, the Pinckney Recreation Area, Crooked Lake Campground, and the Post 46 Hunting and Fishing Club.

Once completed later this year, the 713-mile pipeline will be able to transport 3.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily from West Virginia and Pennsylvania through Ohio, then north into Michigan, where it will pass through Lenawee, Washtenaw and Livingston counties before connecting to the Vector pipeline south of Fowlerville. Energy Transfer Partners told WHMI that the pipeline route under construction was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission after it was surveyed and carefully vetted for more than 2 years. That hasn’t stopped members of a group called Michigan Residents Against the ET Rover Pipeline from continuing their efforts to halt construction. They are asking people to learn more about their efforts at their website; OverWithRover.com.

Meanwhile, the resolution approved by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners specifically calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revoke the permit for the project and instead require individual permits for each water body crossing for the length of the pipeline. (JK)