A group of landowners and interested citizens who live in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) of Georgia are organizing to oppose the proposed Southern Natural Gas (SNG) pipeline construction through their lands.

This proposed pipeline would destroy "greenfield space" or "nonviolated" forests and pasturelands of the CSRA, including such valuable natural resources in Elbert, Glascock, Hart, McDuffie, Wilkes, and potentially other CSRA counties.

To date, members of the group have retained attorneys qualified in the area of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and pipeline construction issues, including protection of historically significant lands such as these. Attorneys retained to represent landowner interests are F. Edwin Hallman Jr. and Richard A. Wingate of the Atlanta law firm, Decker, Hallman, Barber & Briggs.

Mr. Hallman is an environmental lawyer who served with Georgia

Attorney General Arthur Bolton and served as Regional Counsel of the United States Department of Energy in the Southeastern states. He has specialized in environmental law since 1980.

Mr. Wingate's primary practice is environmental law, with an emphasis in Georgia environmental regulatory issues. His work also focused on federal environmental law.

There is a pipeline which already exists and SNG could easily expand this existing pipeline easement and production to accomplish its stated goals of expanded capacity for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply. This existing pipeline route, which is underutilized at the present time, connects to the Transco pipeline in Georgia.

As presented to the landowners by SNG representatives, the SNG pipeline proposal will include construction of a portion of the proposed pipeline under the Savannah River. This would enable the companies to avoid paying tariffs in Georgia and make the pipeline more profitable for the gas companies to supply areas principally in the north and east of the country.

Thus, the only purpose for violating open pastureland, timberland, and the red clay of Georgia is to enable these huge companies to have a more efficient and profitable route to ship liquefied natural gas to the Northeast at the expense of rural landowners.

The group of landowners and other interested individuals meet fairly regularly to stay abreast of developments and issues relating to the pipeline. Anyone who is interested in becoming more informed of these efforts and possibly joining this group, please contact Cindy Bounds at 706-678-7152.