ALBANY COUNTY — Albany County Legislator L. Michael Mackey is introducing a law that could protect delicate local wells and reservoirs from blasting as Tennessee Gas Pipeline prepares to expand its supply pipes across the county to reach downstate and New England.

If passed, the law would require any “blasting entity” to provide well water sampling before and after explosions take place for property owners within a one-mile radius of the blasting location, and to pay a $15,000 civil penalty for failure to notify residents within that area. Further, a blasting entity would be responsible for abatement and a fine of $15,000 per violation if a property owner’s drinking-water supply is disrupted or contaminated.

Mines are exempt from the proposed law, Mackey said.

“The whole purpose here is to make sure that the cost of this is borne by the company doing the blasting, rather than by individuals,” Mackey told The Enterprise.

Local residents have water supplies that have been affected by previous blasts, Councilman Douglas LaGrange told the New Scotland Town Board, after Mackey spoke to the town board last week; LaGrange said he is one of them.

Historically, New Scotland has remained less developed than its neighbors in Albany County because of limestone formations underground that limit water supply and accessibility.

LaGrange’s property illustrates town water limits, Mackey said.

When LaGrange built his home 35 years ago, his well could pump 10 gallons per minute, LaGrange said. Soon after, Tennessee Gas began putting in its first pipelines through the region.

“I heard a blast of some sort,” LaGrange said. He tried his faucets soon after, he said.

“I had, basically, mud coming out of it,” he said. After installing three new well pumps, LaGrange was able to get his water supply back, but not at the same strong level, he said. He said that he is concerned that similar water problems will occur for other residents during the pipeline expansion proposed for the next two years.

State regulations call for notification of property owners within 150 feet of a blast site, Mackey said. His bill calls for lengthening that radius for those in Albany County. The Tennessee Gas expansions are planned for the towns of Berne, Westerlo, Knox, New Scotland, and Bethlehem.

“The county definitely has authority over drinking water,” Mackey said. “This [proposed expansion] goes close to the Vly Creek Reservoir.”

Mackey said that property owners do not have to have their water tested, if they do not want anyone on their land, but that they would be notified of the opportunity to have their water tested before and after blasting.

Any civil fines levied on a blasting company would be paid into an abatement fund “to be used to address problems with someone’s well,” Mackey told The Enterprise this week.

“I’ve had a tremendous amount of support. There are 10 other legislators who’ve asked to be co-sponsors,” he said. “That really bodes well.”

Albany County Legislator Herbert Reilly, from New Scotland, was one of the first to co-sponsor the bill, Mackey told the town board.

Mackey told The Enterprise that he will present the bill to legislative committees in April, and a public hearing will most likely be set for May. The legislature could pass the bill as soon as its June or July meetings, he said.

The New Scotland Town Board passed a resolution supporting the proposed bill.

“We’re about to do the same thing in Knox,” said Knox Councilman Nicholas Viscio this week. Viscio will propose a resolution to support the water bill at the next town board meeting, he said.

“The pipeline transitions through Knox,” he said. Knox also has Karst topography and its inherent limestone issues, Viscio said.

“We think [the bill] is a good thing, all around,” he said.

County Executive Daniel McCoy supports the bill, according to Mary Rozak, McCoy’s director of communications.

“Simply put, drinking water must be protected,” McCoy said in a statement.  “It’s the County’s duty to protect surface and groundwater.  This legislation would protect public health and safety by requiring well-water sampling and analysis specifically when industrial activities, including blasting, could threaten that.”

New Scotland Town Board member William Hennessy suggested that the law include a broader radius for blasting notification and remediation near municipal well sources, like Clarksville’s. Town Engineer R. Mark Dempf, of Stantec Engineering, said that the reservoir at Clarksville serves about 160 people.

Mackey told The Enterprise that he conferred with the county attorney about amending the current proposed law.

“It might be preferable to have a separate local law to address protection of public water sources,” Mackey said. The introduction of another county-level local law could address public water protection without delaying passage of the current bill, he said.