Earthmoving has begun on the Atlantic Sunrise gas pipeline in Lancaster County.

So have protests to disrupt the project, which will cut through 37 miles in western and southern parts of the county.

At daybreak Monday, about 35 people participated in an 18-vehicle blockade of an access road being built by contractors for pipeline builder Williams Partners in Manor Township.

The protest was organized by Lancaster Against Pipelines. Williams spokesman Christopher Stockton said no work was done at the site Monday because of the weather.

Police were called to the scene, but there were no citations or arrests and protesters stopped blocking the road when ordered to by authorities.

The site is the first actual moving of dirt in Lancaster County since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave the controversial 197-mile project the green light for construction on Sept. 15.

The work site, off Witmer Road near Safe Harbor, is one of two sites where the pipeline will be drilled under the Conestoga River. The slow drilling under the river is expected to take several months so it is the first pipeline work to begin in the county.

Work to lay the pipeline should begin across the county in another week or two, Stockton said.

Williams has set up a staging area in a field near Marietta for contractors working on the project. And 42-inch-diameter steel pipes for the pipeline, made in Turkey, are being stored at a former industrial plant outside of Lebanon city.

The $3 billion pipeline, scheduled to be in operation by the end of July, will run from Susquehanna County in the midst of Marcellus Shale gas drilling to Williams’ interstate Transco pipeline near Holtwood. The gas will be distributed up and down the East Coast and some will be exported.

This is our community and we’re here to protect it "This is our community and we’re here to protect it."

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Williams says the pipeline will bring inexpensive, domestic natural gas to people, “especially the disadvantaged,” according to Stockton.

“Sufficient access to affordable natural gas supplies keeps our energy costs low and supports thousands of good-paying jobs, in addition to helping America lead the world in combating climate change.”

But some in Lancaster County have doggedly fought the pipeline every step of the way. They say a private company has trampled landowners’ rights and seized private land, as well as destroyed natural resources for profit, not the public good.

A Lancaster Against Pipelines co-founder said the disruption of the pipeline work Monday was spearheaded by local residents standing up for “our Constitutional rights to clean air and water.”

Malinda Clatterbuck of Martic Township says more than 1,000 local residents have signed a pledge to nonviolentally block building of the pipeline.

“This is our community and we’re here to protect it,” Clatterbuck said after Monday’s work blockage.

The protesters were peaceful and cooperative when police responded around 7:45 a.m., according to Manor Township police Cpl. Mark Burkholder.

Police asked the group to move their cars, which were blocking both lanes of traffic, so that the road was open for travel, Burkholder said. State police also responded.

The protesters were asked to clear both lanes of travel by 10 a.m., and they did, he said.

“No one has been charged, and everything has been peaceful, thus far,” said Brett Hambright, spokesman for the Lancaster County district attorney's office.

In recent weeks, several police departments sent questionnaires to residents whose land will be crossed by the pipeline to ask if they will allow protesters.