CANTON — Company officials were peppered with questions Monday just minutes into their presentation seeking support for extending a natural-gas pipeline in St. Lawrence County.

Some legislators on the Finance Committee there wondered why they should help pay for expanding the St. Lawrence Gas project when only 500 of the 4,000 potential customers reside in St. Lawrence County.

Others said funding it could save state prisons big money and preserve good-paying jobs for their residents.

Still others said dairy-related industries, like McCadam Cheese and North Lawrence Dairy Inc., would benefit and that, in turn, would help area farmers prosper.

MILLIONS NEEDED
Jim Nubel of St. Lawrence Gas began to explain the proposal to extend the existing pipeline 48 miles from the Town of Stockholm in St. Lawrence County to the Village of Chateaugay in Franklin County.

He said the company must show the State Public Service Commission in its application to build the $20 million project that it has support and can produce a 7.77-percent profit in its first five years.

St. Lawrence Gas pledged about $13 million of the cost, $2 million will come through Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury), and Franklin County promised $1.452 million.

That leaves a gap of about $3.75 million to finish the project, slated to start in 2010.

The company hopes to connect large-volume users, such as the Franklin County Courthouse, the three state prisons in Malone, the Malone Central and Brushton-Moira Central school districts and Alice Hyde Medical Center.

Nubel said the company won't be getting federal-stimulus money, but it will apply for funds through a Regional Blueprint Program.

That is believed to be a new $1 billion Upstate Revitalization Fund administered by Empire State Development that came into being in 2007 under former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY
While it awaits application details, St. Lawrence Gas is moving ahead with environmental studies the Public Service Commission requires for its decision.

Franklin County has kicked in $300,000, or about half of the money needed for this phase of the project, and the company is hoping St. Lawrence County will match it.

Company officials say background work done now will quicken the project's pace if state approval is granted.

QUESTIONS
Legislator Frederick Morrill (D-DeKalb Junction) brought up Franklin County's refusal to support Massena and his county last year when they wanted to expand the Massena airport.

He asked Franklin County Legislature Chairman Guy "Tim" Smith, sitting in the gallery, how much support he would give the pipeline if the tables were turned and it was his county was asking for financial help.

Smith said he'd carefully consider all proposals before him.

St. Lawrence County Finance Committee Chairman Donald Peck (R-Gouverneur) reminded his board that it had passed a resolution in support of the pipeline on Feb. 25.

But questions still came about the financing and just how much the county was being asked to give.

Nubel had few concrete answers in the 45-minute session because he has no details yet on the new grant program or how detailed the Public Service Commission needs the environmental review to be beyond what is already compiled.

The company is expected to return to Canton soon with a more formal request for support.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com