The Vermont Gas Systems pipeline had been proposed to run from Cornwall, VT to Ticonderoga, NY. Map: Addison County Regional Planning Commission

Feb 10, 2015 — ::::UPDATE, 4:22 PM::::
Donna Wadsworth, a spokesperson for the Ticonderoga mill, said canceling the deal with Vermont Gas was a necessary “business decision” for International Paper.

“We haven’t seen the details behind the cost escalation. We do know from VT Gas that construction costs have gone up. Legal costs have gone up. Right-of-way costs have gone up. Overhead costs have gone up. So just across the board I think they saw an escalation of costs for the project.”

Wadsworth called the rising price tag a “setback,” but she said the company still plans on bringing natural gas into the mill. It’s just going to come from somewhere else. She said IP plans to truck in compressed natural gas from nearby energy companies.

“The nearest one to us right now is out of Milford, Vermont. We’ll certainly be doing that on a temporary basis, and then we’ll see where that takes us as far as a more permanent installation,” she said.

614 people work at the IP mill in Ticonderoga. Wadsworth said no one should be worried about losing their job. “We’re in a solid business position. We’re key to International paper’s product portfolio. The company is investing in this mill, so we feel good about our future,” she said.
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Numerous news organizations are reporting today that a planned expansion of a natural gas pipeline to the IP paper mill in Ticonderoga has been scrapped.

The project would have carried natural gas through a pipeline under Lake Champlain from Vermont to the New York shore, feeding a lower-cost, lower carbon emission form of energy to the plant.

But in a statement published by the Burlington Free Press, Vermont Gas officials suggested that rising costs had derailed the project.  "Our updated estimate for Phase 2 is now $105 million, compared to $74.4 million as presented to the Public Service Board last August," Jim Sinclair, Vermont Gas' vice president for system expansion, said in a statement quoted by the newspaper.

The project faced stiff opposition from some Vermont residents who felt that the pipeline violated their property rights and posed safety concerns, without offering significant financial benefits to their communities.

But speaking in 2003, IP spokeswoman Donna Wadsworth described the pipeline as a significant boost for the mill, one of the biggest employers in the Adirondack Park.

"We look at natural gas as being a cleaner energy, an opportunity to reduce our greenhouse gases.  So for us it's a game-changing project," she told NCPR.

Rising costs have also raised questions about which portions of the pipeline will be built on the Vermont side of the Champlain Valley.

This represents the latest unsuccessful effort by International Paper to lower energy costs at the mill.  IP had also proposed burning waste tires in Ticonderoga to generate energy, a proposal that also faced significant opposition among Vermonters.

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