LONG EDDY — Millennium Pipeline Company has launched an effort to add a second, more powerful compressor to its existing Hancock Compressor Station, located in Long Eddy not far from the Sullivan County border.

If approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the 20,400-horsepower compressor would join the existing 15,000-horsepower compressor that has pumped natural gas through the Millennium Pipeline for the past two years.

Millennium Public Relations Director Michelle Hook said the goal is the same as the one for the proposed Highland Compressor Station near Eldred.

“We have to add more compression power there,” she explained, adding that the building housing the compressor will be of similar size to the existing one but mostly out of sight of neighboring Hungry Hill Road. The company is not currently seeking any tax abatements for the project.

It's all part of a multimillion-dollar pipeline upgrade project the company is undertaking to meet growing demand. Work is expected to begin next year, should necessary permissions be gained.

Hook has already met with Hancock leaders and will soon announce an open house meeting in Sullivan County that will detail both the Hancock and Highland projects.

Meanwhile, the company recently completed the relocation of a family who lived close to the Hancock station and had complained its construction and operation had led to property damage and negative impacts on their health and quality of life. They successfully grieved to have their home's taxable value cut in half by Town of Hancock officials before Millennium relocated the family to a new Callicoon home built for them.

Farther down the pipeline, the Highland proposal has spurred the creation of a concerned citizens group called Sullivan County Residents Against Millennium (SCRAM), specifically opposing the Highland Compressor Station.

The group is calling for members and supporters to attend a Highland Town Board meeting tonight (February 9) at 6:45 p.m. at the town hall in Eldred, both to voice their concerns and demonstrate the level of opposition.

For more on SCRAM, visit nyscram.org.