PennEast has yet to choose a final track for its 110-mile-long gas pipeline, but not for lack of trying.

Dozens of municipalities, counties, conservation groups and government agencies have a vested interest in where this billion-dollar project eventually lands, and right now the city’s Water Authority board of directors is worried about Beltzville Lake.

Why? Because PennEast may find it convenient to tunnel under the lake in its route south, and that could cause a problem. Or several. Or perhaps a disaster.

President John Tallarico said he’d recently been to a meeting with PennEast representatives and they were adamant there’s a lot of testing ongoing – radiography, hydrostatic readings, and a planned placement of sensors set at mile of the pipe itself.

Vaughn Gower said so far all talks have been with UGI employees, people who live in Pennsylvania, who have been straight-shooters about expectations and challenges. “But,” he stressed, “we have a duty to verify their assertions.” Assertions that are as yet quite vague, as Gower said PennEast may not have a clear idea about the lake’s supporting composition. “What they think is under the lake may not be correct.”

Solicitor Jim Broughal agreed, reminding the board everything discussed or promised needs to be documented.

The board decided to extend PennEast’s access agreement to authority property for drilling and testing at an increment of reimbursable expenses of up to $25,000 for paperwork and legal fees. They said if and when PennEast has reached that amount, they may continue to allow addendums in similar increments. “It’s a start,” said Gower.

The authority’s wind energy project’s studies continue apace, with Iberdrola Renewables working diligently on building more sensor towers to determine the best locations for giant wind turbines to supply the city with power. Repasch said Iberdrola is making the project a priority for next year, and may be in full production of as many as 40 turbines in 2017.

Likewise a solar project first proposed in January is under evaluation. The initial proposal by Green Energy Partners was to install a 670 kilowatt solar farm near the Granger Road water plant with a 2.5% annual cost escalator. SolarCity, the current provider interested in the project, proposes a similarly sized system with a 1 percent annual price increase for the power, which starts at $.073 per kilowatt hour the first year over the length of the deal, which could be 20 or 25 years. This is still better than other offers, said Director of Water and Sewer Resources Ed Boscola. “On the surface, it looks very good.”

The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 10 at city hall.