Just as gas prices rise for the summer, the issue of where a new gas pipeline will go is heating up.

Ingham County Commissioner Lisa Dedden filed a brief Friday opposing the Wolverine Pipe Line, 2691 Lake Lansing Road, proposal to route a new gas pipeline along Insterstate 96 in Lansing.

The route is the second proposed by the company after its first, running through Meridian Township, was denied by the Michigan Public Service Commission on the basis of safety.

An issue still at large in the new proposal, Dedden said.

“The same things exist so therefore the public safety commission needs to deny this, too,” she said. “If it is approved with the same conditions then we have a case of environmental discrimination.”

Dedden said the level of development and population density is the same in both routes, the only discrepancies lie in the annual income of residents and percentage of minorities.

Dedden said if the route is approved, it should be examined.

“Then what we’re saying is that it’s not safe for the Meridian folk but it’s fine for the Lansing people,” she said.

Dedden said there were six alternatives in front of the company, but officials at Wolverine said the Lansing route was the best.

Wolverine spokesman Tom Shields said the biggest contributor to ruptured pipelines is damage from development around the line, an issue avoided by placing the route close to Interstate 96.

“It will be an expressway today and will be an expressway into the future as long as we have cars,” he said.

The safety issue, plus the reduction of affected property owners to one - the state of Michigan - made the company confident in its proposed route, despite the other options, Shields said.

“There have been people who have thrown out alternatives,” he said. “This site was chosen because it is the safest, most reliable way to deliver gasoline to the Lansing area.”

The Public Service Commission is expected to reach a decision on the proposed route soon.

And while both sides feel they have a strong case, commission spokeswoman Mary Jo Kunkle said the commission has a lot to look at.

“The staff, the company, the commissioner have all been parties of the case and will all have filed briefs,” she said.

Replies from each party are expected by Monday.

“They’ll read the entire record and make its decision on the record before it,” she said.