My Comments to EPA.Gov

The EPA invited comments...
What follows are mine.
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Comment:My name is Mary E. Gerdt. I am a 56 year old disabled RN now on a fixed income. I and my family consume power in Monkton,Vermont. I write as a consumer concerned about power costs, availability, and political manipulation of Vermont's fragile power grid. I have watched powerlessly while the Government has allowed Canadian Gaz Metro to buy Vermont utilities like Vermont Gas and Green Mountain Power. The current administration has effectively closed VT Yankee by hook or crook. This disappoints me. I studied nuclear energy in college and it's safety can be superior to the so called "natural" (or fracked) gas. Then Canadians have threatened my US neighbors with land condemnation to run a pipeline Through Monkton, Vermont. Lake Champlain is undoubtedly as precious as the Connecticut River. Lake Champlain is likewise planned to house cables, pipelines UNDER the lake to transport power. Nowhere is the end game revealed. No where can common people like me find out Gaz Metro's history of rate hikes. I don't even understand the monopoly power of the power corporations remaining. For the record, I believe VT Yankee should have remained open or modify, upgrade. Stand down the expensive attorney threats that raise all of our energy costs. I believe the Pipeline from Alberta, CA to Ticonderoga, NY should be scrapped. This gaz could be transported by rail. Our local environment would suffer with a pipeline. The plan to extend the pipeline to Addison County is putting local seniors and vulnerable citizens at risk. Yes, this all ties together. What happens when a pipeline is put where a politician says, not planning around safety? Freezing, thawing, rocks, erosion, 5 feet of ice on the Lake. New York State refused. So we are all being threatened with being "NIMBY", as we live in the idyllic countryside. I feel like the closing of Yankee, and Gaz Metro's acquisitions of power control dovetail to crimp Vermonters into wanting a pipeline. Pipelines have been shown to increase methane with those pesky leaks. Some of the gas will be from fracking which has been outlawed here. Once again, private citizens having to lawyer up singly while the government entities act and wait for backlash, then ignore. I believe we need to rethink pipelines. Please do not plan on replacing coal generation with "natural" gas generation or use gas lines to transport electricity as I have read about. Keep the power lines out of Lake Champlain. Pardon any procedural lacking on my part. I am a citizen. My GMP power bill is $160 a month. Doubled past 10 years with less use. If a pipeline comes to Monkton, Vermont, less than a mile from my house, I could not get gas but would have to pay municipal taxes for fire and rescue departments that would have to respond to leaks as first responders. I feel as a citizen, that it appears political people may have taken donations for elections or other considerations with expectations about closing nuclear or facilitating Canadians to condemn beautiful homesteads in Rural Vermont: clearly not the most direct route from Alberta, CA to Ticonderoga, NY. Not scientific argument, just common sense logic. Thank you for your consideration of my comments.

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