The fight to stop a natural gas pipeline is heating up in Washtenaw County.
Energy Transfer Partners is building the Rover natural gas pipeline near Silver Lake.
Neighbors say the pipeline route was changed without notification and now puts them at risk.
The issue brought District 2 County Commissioner Michelle Deatrick to tears during a commissioners meeting, calling it a governmental failure at the federal level.
Silver Lake is home to Ann Arbor YMCA's Camp Birkett, where more than 100 children spend their summer days under the sun.
About 90 people live along the lake year-round, and an estimated 1,500 visitors enjoy camping, fishing and lake activities daily at the Pinkney Recreation Area.
Less than half a mile from the lake the Rover pipeline is under construction.
"We did all the research, we find it's in the wrong spot,” said Wendy Zielen one of the many residents who now oppose this new route. "They were supposed to take the route that co-locates with the power line, the land is already cleared, the route is open, everybody expected that."
Instead crews are clearing a new route closer to the lake.
As it stands pipe will be laid under the only three roads to these neighborhoods, camp and state park.
"That location cuts off all three of the Silver Lake access roads that we would need for an evacuation in the case of a pipeline disaster, also no emergency crews could get in,” said Toni Kayumi, President and CEO of the Ann Arbor YMCA.
"That's not good. Two-thousand people, if something happens we can't escape,” said Zielen.
These neighbors and the YMCA say they were never informed the route changed.
The pipe will now sit only 300 feet from the children's camp.
"They need to think about the lives, the safety of the children. Not about financial gain, not about what might be the most expedient and quick route,” said Kayumi.
Energy Transfer Partners sent us this statement saying, “The Rover pipeline route under construction was approved by FERC after it was surveyed and carefully vetted and planned for more than 2 years. As a company, safety is our top priority. The safety of the environment, the safety of our employees and the safety of the communities in which we do business.”
Zielen says she's filed comments and paperwork with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with the Army Corps of Engineers and with the Energy Transfer Partners, saying no one has responded.
"They call what we're in the buffer zone, that's while you're still alive. When, if something blows up that becomes the blast radius, we don't want to be in that blast radius,” said Zielen.
The YMCA and the neighbors say they have one request, to move the pipeline back to the route they were told would be used, further from the lake and away from their access roads.
You can follow the Ann Arbor YMCA and the neighborhood’s fight to move the pipeline construction.
