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Bigger Gas Pipeline Planned To Cross 22 Miles Of Pasco

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By JULIA FERRANTE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 11, 2008

DADE CITY - About 22 miles of a proposed natural gas pipeline expansion could someday stretch through Pasco County.

A representative from the Florida Gas Transmission Co. briefed Pasco County commissioners Tuesday on the company's plans.

The 36-inch pipeline would stretch from Tallahassee to South Florida, cutting through 25 counties.

The Pasco portion primarily would run adjacent to an existing corridor along State Road 52, south through Land O' Lakes to the Hillsborough County line, said Stephen Veatch, the company's senior director for certificates and tariffs.

The $2 billion expansion project would serve utility providers such as Florida Power & Light, Seminole Electric Cooperative, the city of Tallahassee and possibly Progress Energy in the future.

The expansion is needed to serve growing energy needs and higher demands for natural gas, an environmentally preferable alternative to coal, Veatch said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must approve the project, which company officials expect to be completed by 2011.

Commissioners asked about the safety of the project and its effects on future development and roads.

"Following the S.R. 52 alignment, there are plans to go from two lanes ultimately to six lanes," commission chairman Ted Schrader said. "Obviously, with the expansion of S.R. 54 and U.S. 41, I hope you will be in communication with the state Department of Transportation, so you are not laying the line only to have it covered up with pavement."

Commissioner Pat Mulieri, who helped fight a medical waste incinerator project before being elected, cautioned the company to inform residents of its plans. She said a local attorney representing the gas company contacted her and told her Pasco officials have little say about where the pipeline may go, but she disagrees.

"I said, 'Wait and see,'" she said.

For information about the project, call 1-877-663-9161 or go to www.panhandleenergy .com/fgt/phaseviii.

Also Tuesday, Lisa Sloan, a tobacco prevention specialist with the Pasco County Health Department, addressed the board about smoking-cessation programs available for employees.

The board is considering a new policy of hiring only nonsmokers and offering cessation programs and medications to current employees, encouraging them to quit.

About 26 percent of Pasco County adults are smokers, Sloan said. That's higher than the national rate of 20 percent and the statewide rate of 22.6 percent.

It costs about $3,391 more a year to employ a smoker versus a nonsmoker, Sloan said.

Smokers tend to miss more days of work and require more health care.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office already has a tobacco-free worker policy. Sarasota County recently adopted a similar policy, and Manatee County offers better health benefits for employees who do not smoke.

"Employees do not have a fundamental right to smoke," Sloan said. "It's just that smokers do get angry, so no one wants to go there. But it's for their own good."

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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