To the Editor:

The plight of a family-run maple syrup operation in northern Pennsylvania, which has struggled for survival against the invasion by gas pipeline constructors, has been widely reported. Megan Holleran, of New Milford Township in northern Pennsylvania south of Binghamton, recently lost the latest round of her long-running battle with the natural gas industry, as contractors for the pipeline company, accompanied by armed United States Marshalls, entered the family's property and began cutting maple trees.

But in a surprising decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week denied permits for the construction of a Liquified Natural Gas  facility in Oregon, as well as the pipeline from Colorado that would supply it, saying the projects' adverse impacts outweighed their need. But FERC did not deny permits for the pipeline in northern Pennsylvania, which is destroying Holleran's property and will destroy numerous properties in Pennsylvania and New York.

When the clearance is complete, it will have stripped about 90 percent of the trees from which Holleran and her family harvest maple sap in a commercial maple syrup operation that is now destroyed, according to Holleran.

Elliott Adams, a forester from Sharon Springs, New York, who lives near a proposed pipeline route, traveled to New Milford to support the Hollerans because he said the eminent domain law has been misused in their case. Adams was quoted by NPR as saying, "They took land by eminent domain which is meant to be for the public good. We know that exportation of gas is not for the public good."

A federal judge in Scranton ruled in March 2014 that a portion of Holleran’s land should be condemned under eminent domain. The FERC had declined to stay the tree felling on the Holleran property.

Will we be seeing armed U.S. Marshalls escorting tree cutters in Albany and Schoharie counties?

Tim Truscott

Albany